248 



FOREIGN BIRDS FOR CAGE AND AVIARY. 



mentioned at p. 840.* Rarely, usually in the evening, 

 it uttered its strange, four-syllabled cry Kikikuhitt." 

 This is one of the instances of a lovely dove, kept Iby 

 the natives of all the Samoan Islands, easily decoyed, 

 and not difficult to keep, which has only twice been 

 imported. 



PURPLE-CROWNED FRUIT PIGEON (Ptilopus 

 porphyraceus). 



Back, rump, and upper tail-coverts bronze-green ; 

 wings shining green with yellow edges to the nights ; 

 inner secondaries spotted with lilac towards the tips ; 

 tail above green with a greyish-white subterminal band 

 tinged with green and yellowish at the edges ; forehead 

 and crown magenta, with an ill-defined yeilow edge at 

 the back ; back of head, neck, and breast greyish-green ; 

 throat yellowish-white ; a dark green patch, sometimes 

 tinged with deep purple between the ibreast and abdo- 

 men ; abdomen and flanks green ; vent and under tail- 

 coverts yellow or orange-yellow ; tail below dark grey, 

 with a broad terminal pale grey belt ; bill greenish- 

 grey ; feet magenta ; irides yellow. Female altogether 

 much greener than the male ; the dark green patch in 

 front of abdomen sometimes, if not always, without 

 purple tinge. Hab., " Tonga Islands Tonga-tabu, Ena, 

 Lifuka, Hapai, Vavao, Ninafou, Futuna Island ; Savage 

 Island and Fiji Islands Balaou, Wakaia, Mokani, 

 Loma-loma, .Mango, and Taviuni." (Salvador!.) 



_E. L. Layard (" Proceedings of the Zoological Society," 

 1876, pp. 502. 503) says : " This ' green dove ' is not un- 

 common, and is decidedly intermediate between our P. 

 fasciatus and the .Samoan P. apicalis.'' " In habite it 

 resembles its brethren, and is >called by the natives 

 * Kullu Kullu.' " Dr. Hans. Gadow, writing on the 

 birds of the Island of Rotumah (Tlie Ibis, 1898, p. 44), 

 eays : " Called ' Ku-ku ' from its note, cu-cu-cu, etc." 



At Nine or Savage Island the native name of the bird 

 is stated (The Ibis, 1905, p. 601) to be " Kulu Kulu." 



An example of this Fruit-Pigeon was deposited at 

 the London Zoological Gardens in 1885. 



SUPERB FRUIT-PIGEON (Ptilopus superbus}. 



The adult male has the crown deep rich purple ; sides 

 and back of head, olive-green ; sides and back of neck, 

 bright reddish ; shoulders, blue-black ; remainder of 

 upper surface and wings, olivaceous-green ; the scapu- 

 laries, inner greater coverts, and inner secondaries with 

 deep blue subterminal spots ; the flights are black, the 

 primaries with narrow yellow outer edges, secondaries 

 and greater coverts green edged with yellow on outer 

 web ; tail with greyish-white terminal band ; chin and 

 part of cheeks, pale grey ; breast, grey with purple 

 bases to the feathers, bounded 'behind by a black belt 

 tinted with blue or green ; abdomen white ; flanks 

 green, with two white bands ; under tail-coverts white, 

 with yellowish apical margin and a longitudinal green 

 dash on their inner webe ; under wing-coverts, greyish 

 green ; flights below, dark grey ; tail below, dark grey, 

 with white terminal belt ; bill, olive-green, yellowish 

 at the tip ; feet, rose-colour ; iris, yellow. 



The female has no purple on the crown, but a dark 

 blue spot on the occiput ; the blue wing-spots lees dis- 

 tinct than in the male, no blue patch on the lesser 

 coverts near the bend of the wing ; lower part of throat 

 and ibreast grey and green, with no purple at the base 

 of the feathers ; no black belt behind the breast. Hab., 

 Moluccan and Papuan Islands and North Australia. 



Mr. Gould evidently knew nothing as to the wild life 

 of this pigeon, but Dr. Ramsay states that the eggs ob- 

 tained by Mr. Boyer-Bower in the bushes near Cairns, 



* The food mentioned at the end of my notes on the family 

 Treronid(i) 



Queensland, are email compared with those of species 

 of inferior size ; they are two in number for a clutch, 

 and are white, rather elongated, and pointed. The same 

 gentleman, in another article, speaks of it as " tolerably 

 abundant in all the scrub lands of the Herbert River 

 and coast range. Their note is a broken ' coo,' pro- 

 longed into a rolling guttural sound at the end ; they 

 may be heard at least half a mile off. But, owing to 

 the dense nature of the scrubs, the birds are at all 

 times difficult to obtain, although not rare." 



Mr. Campbell ("Nests and Eggs of Australian Birds," 

 p. 665) says that according to Air. Kendall Broadbent 

 this Pigeon lays two eggs, " the note is very gruff, re- 

 sembling the word ' whoot,' uttered at short intervals, 

 and may be heard at a considerable distance from the 

 spot of its emission." " The nest is made in a small 

 bush, and constructed loosely of a few sticks, which just 

 serve to retain the eggs when laid. The usual clutch 

 consists of two eggs, which are generally visible -to am 

 observer from the ground." 



On the other hand, Mr. D. Le Souef procured several 

 nests, each with a single egg only, and Mr. H. Barnard, 

 in the season of 1896-97, obtained eight nests, in every 

 instance containing one egg only. Mr. Campbell there- 

 fore concludes that one is the usual clutch. He 

 describes the egg as " elliptical in form ; texture of 

 shell somewhat fine, excepting the smaller end, which 

 is slightly granular ; surface glossy ; colour, white, 

 slightly toned of a faint creamy tint. Dimension in 

 inches :_(!) 1.22 x .88, (2) 1.15 x .87." 



As with other Doves, the male incubates during the 

 daytime. The breeding season is from September to 

 February. 



Our Zoological Gardens received this lovely Fruit 

 Pigeon in 1865, and Dr. Russ, in his most recent work, 

 published in 1899, states that it has been found alive 

 nowhere else. In spite of the difficulty of securing it, 

 one would suppose that after the first living example 

 had been obtained an effort would have been made to 

 capture others, for undoubtedly there could not fail to 

 be a market for such handsome birds, and they would 

 command a tolerably high price. 



PAINTED FRUIT-PIGEON (Ptilopus coronulaius). 



Green shot with golden ; wings glossy green, tinged 

 with bluish ; greater coverts and flights edged with 

 yellow, more broadly on the inner secondaries ; tail 

 above glossy green, the feathers towards the tips with 

 narrow yellow edges; crown rosy-lilac, edged behind 

 with deep purple and encircled by a yellow band, which 

 is broadest behind ; sides of head greyish-green ; chin 

 and throat yellowish ; a lilacine-violet patch on middle 

 of abdomen ; vent and under tail-coverts yellow ; wings 

 below grey ; the under wing-coverts sligntly greenish ; 

 tail below grey, with paler terminal band ; bill olive- 

 green ; feet purplish red ; irides with an inner red ring 

 and an outer yellow one. Female with the yellow of 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts paler. Hab., Am 

 Islands and South-eastern New Guinea. 



This is also known as the Lilac-*crowned Fruit- 

 Pigeon. Dr. Meyer, in 1892, described a race of it 

 from German New Guinea under the subspecific name 

 of huonensis. 



Mr. D. Le Souef (The Ibis, 1900, p. 616) says : "These 

 beautiful little Green Fruit-Pigeons are most difficult 

 to detect among the thick foliage in which they make 

 their home, and one is fortunate to be able to secure a 

 specimen. They have the curious habit of laying their 

 single egg on the leaf of a palm-tree, as when these 

 large leaves branch out horizontally they are slightly 

 concave, and often have a few dead leaves and twigs on 

 their surface that have fallen from the surrounding 

 trees. This Pigeon just lays its egg on the leaf, but 



