FRUIT PIGEONS 2133 



band at the tip of the tail; while the under surface of the body is mostly whitish 

 and gray, with a wide purplish band on the lower part of the breast. In the second 

 group, which contains the typical species of painted pigeons, the tail is moderately 

 long, the feathers on the breast are forked at the extremity, and there is a well- 

 marked cap on the top of the head. Among these the Eastern- Australian painted 

 pigeon (P. swainsoni) has the crown rose lilac, surrounded by a narrow ring of 

 yellow; the upper parts are mostly greenish yellow, the inner quills being tipped 

 with deep blue; the breast is dull green, each of the forked feathers shading into 

 silvery gray at the tip, and there is a lilac band between the breast and the orange 

 abdomen. The third group {Lamprotreron} is distinguished by a broad blue-black 

 band separating the breast from the abdomen. Only two species belong to this 

 group, viz., P. superbus and P. temmincki, the former being very common in New 

 Guinea and Australia. The other groups of this section of the genus, in which the 

 first primary is attenuated at the extremity, include eleven species, which, unlike 

 those previously mentioned, have the tail rather short, and are all inhabitants of 

 New Guinea or the islands immediately to the east and west. The remaining sub- 

 genera differ from those already mentioned in not having the first flight feathers 

 narrowed, while none have the head, neck, and breast uniform rose carmine. They 

 include twenty-nine species, many of which are exceedingly beautiful, but none 

 more so than P. eugenics from the Solomon islands. In both sexes of the latter the 

 head is pure white, and the rest of the upper parts bronze green, with a small gray 

 patch on the shoulder and spots on the wing coverts of the same color; the throat 

 and chest are dark purple red, surrounded by a dull purple band, and the breast is 

 grayish green, shading into whitish on the abdomen. 



Of the four other genera of the subfamily, we may mention Chrys- 



'cenas, which is distinguished by having the inner webs of the quills 



yellow or orange yellow, and contains three species from the Fiji 



islands, one being the splendid C. victor, the male of which has the general plumage 



bright orange, with the head and throat olive yellow, and the bill and feet green. 



The female has the entire plumage rich green, the head and throat being yellowish 



green, and the bill and feet black. 



Another genus includes the wart pigeons (Alectrcenas) of Madagascar, in which 

 the plumage is mostly deep blue, and the feathers of the neck are deeply forked 

 at the extremity. Two of the species have the tail blue; in one of these the crown 

 of the head is red, while in the other it is gray; in the third and fourth species the 

 tail is red, the former having the head of a light gray color, while in the latter it is 

 deep slaty blue. Finally, the one species of Drepanoptila, from New Caledonia and 

 the Isle of Pines, is peculiar in having the outer flight feathers divided at the tip 

 and the legs entirely feathered. 



The third subfamily includes the true fruit pigeons (Carpophagince} , 

 the giants of the family, none of them being smaller than a rock dove, 

 and many larger. They have the bill rather long and distensible at the base, thus 

 enabling them to swallow large fruits whole. Their plumage is not much varie- 

 gated, and in six out of the seven genera there are fourteen tail feathers, the sev- 

 enth (Hemiphaga) having only twelve. The genus Globicera contains seven species, 



