FRUIT-PIGEONS. 



249 



makes no nest of any kind, and directly anyone ap- 

 proaches the sitting bird, darts off and flies away as if 

 wounded, and is soon lost to sight ; but Mr. Barnard 

 succeeded in securing one bird as it flew off its egg, 

 which was on a palm-leaf about 3ft. from the ground. 

 The egg is creamy-white and an elongated oval, and 

 measures 1.24 x 0.72 inch." 



An example of this extremely rare Fruit-Pigeon was 

 deposited at the London Zoological Society's Gardens on 

 August 17th, 1909. 



BEAUTIFUL FRUIT-PIGEON (Ptilopus bellus). 



Bronzy green ; scapulars with rounded bluish-black 

 .spots in the middle ; primaries dark greyish-green, 

 narrowly edged with white; secondaries and tail- 

 feathers witih nairrow yellow edges, the latter otherwise 

 green ; 'back and sides of head of a deeper and brighter 

 green than the rest of the upper surface ; front of head 

 and middle of lower 'breast purplish-red ; a crescentic 

 pectoral band, yellow in front and white behind ; lower 

 aJbdomen and under tail- coverts green with more or less 

 yellow edges to the feathers ; tail telow dark grey, with 

 a pale grey terminal iband; ibill yellow; feet dark 

 carmine ; irides yellow. Female- green ; crown and 1 sides 

 of head deeper and brighter ; no blue-black spots on 

 the scapulars ; no purple on the front of head and 

 middle of lower breast, and no crescentic band on the 

 chest. Hab., Xew Guinea. 



Dr. Guilleimard states (" Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society," 1885, ,p. 658) that this bird is 1 not, as had 

 "been previously supposed, confinedi to the mountainous 

 districts. This is all I have come across respecting its 

 wild life. An example was presented to the- Zoological 

 Society of London by Sir William Ingram in July, 1908. 



BLACK-HEADED FRUIT-PIGEON 



(Ptilopus melanocephalus) . 



Green; primaries black on inner weibs, the first 

 primary slightly scalloped and narrowed at tip ; head 

 and neck ashy, with the back of head and neck black ; 

 chin and throat pale lemon-yellow ; vent and short under 

 tail-coverts yellow, long ones carmine ; edge of eyelids 

 pale yellow ; bill greenish-yellow ; feet vinous-red ; 

 irides wiifch an outer ring of pale yellow, a middle one of 

 dark grey, and an inner one of pale grey. Female 

 smaller than the male, the throat greyish ; the abdomen 

 broadly streaked longitudinally with ashy greyish, the 

 feathers edged with yellow fringes ; only the longest of 

 the under tail-coverts carmine; otherwise wholly green. 

 Hab., " Java, Flores, Sumbawa, Sumba, and Lombock." 

 (Salvadori.) 



Mr. H. 0. Forbes states- (The Ibis, 1881, p. 154) : 

 " Irkles dark yellow ; cere round eye bright yellow. 

 Hard seeds of some species of Acacia in stomach. 

 4 He-kejoam.' " 



The London Zoological Society purchased two females 

 Oif this species in 1865. a male in the year following, and 

 two other examples in 1872. Russ states) that it has 

 also been represented in the Amsterdam Gardens. 



RED-CROWNED FRUIT-PIGEON 



(Alectrcenas pulcherrima). 



Blue-black ; the reflections best marked on the back 

 and upper wing-coverts ; upper 'back grey ; wings and 

 tail black ; feathers of crown hairy and carmine ; sides 

 of head, neck, and upper breast grey, darkest on the 

 ear-coverts, the feathers long and pointed ; vent and 

 under tail-coverts yellowish-white, the latter with 

 longitudinal dark green spots on the inner webs ; naked 

 orbital skin, lores, and wattles on sides of forehead 

 red; bill dusky black, whitisih at tip; feet greyish 

 olive; irides red. Female very slightly smaller, her 



bill shorter and noticeably broader at base ; the 

 plumage less lustrous, the blue reflections being less 

 pronounced. Hab., " Seychelles Islands Mahe, Sil- 

 houette, Praslin, Marianne, and Felioite." (Salvadori.) 



I have found no notes on the wild life, but it is 

 probable that, like A. sganzini, it is an unsuspicious 

 bird, and therefore easily shot, and that it feeds upon 

 wild figs. 



According to Herr Blaauw, who possessed a pair of this 

 pigeon in 1883, its note is a deep murmur, or not unlike 

 the bark of a small dog, and sounds like wock, wock. It 

 moves very awkwardly on the ground to which it does 

 not willingly descend. Two examples reached the 

 London Zoological Gardens in 1865, one in 1868, eight 

 in 1874, and four at least have been received subse- 

 quently ; it first reached the Amsterdam Gardens in 

 1885, and Russ tells us that a pair existed in the Berlin 

 Gardens. 



PACIFIC FRUIT-PIGEON (Globicera pacifica). 



Above bronze-green, more or less tinged with blue; 

 head and hind neck pale grey, the latter sharply defined 

 from the green mantle ; margin of forehead and feathers 

 at, base of (bill and chin whitish ; fore-neck, breast, and 

 abdomen pale vinous ; sides, flanks, and tibial feathers 

 grey, the last with a vinous tinge; under tail-coverts 

 chestnut; under wing-coverts asitiy ; flights and tail 

 below brownish-black ; bill and basal knob black ; feet 

 red ; irides unknown. Female smaller than male, its 

 bill broader at the base, and possibly with a smaller 

 roughened knob at the base. Hab., Samoa Islands on 

 the east to New Guinea. 



E. L. Layard says (" Proceedings of the Zoological 

 Society," 1876, p. 438): "This large Fruit-Pigeon is 

 not nearly so common as the two preceding " (C. 

 vitiensis and C. latrans), " but it frequents similar 

 places, and cannot be distinguished from them bv voice 

 or appearance when at a distance. It breeds in Decem- 

 ber, and its eggs, sent me from Wakaia, are pure white." 

 According to the Rev. S. J. Whitmee (t.c., p. 495), 

 the native name of the bird appears to be Lupe. 



According to A. J. North ("(Records Australian 

 Mus. III.," n. 4, p. 85), this is the Fruit-Pigeon of 

 Funafuti. 



In his " Ornithological Notes in the New Hebrides " 

 (The, Ibis, 1900, p. 607), Captain A. M. Farquhar, 

 R.N., says: "The forest here abounds in the fine 

 pigeon Globicera pacifica, the loud booming note of 

 which may be heard at a great distance. When looking 

 for small birds, I found great difficulty in preventing 

 the natives taking me after these pigeons, as they could 

 not understand why I should trouble about such in- 

 significant little things as Honey-eaters, Flycatchers, 

 Zosteropes, etc., when there was bigger game about. 

 Globicera pacifica has an extraordinary large lump at 

 the base of the bill. Later on, at Erromanga, I shot a 

 good many pigeons of this genus, and I then noticed 

 that the Erromanga bird differs considerably in colour- 

 ing, and that the lump on the bill is much smaller than 

 in Globicera pacifica." 



According to Col. Gudgeon (The Ibi*, 1905, p. ; 599), 

 " the native name of this Fruit-Pigeon is ' Rupe.' " It 

 will be noticed tfiat (Mr. Whitmee says it is ''Lupe." 

 Mr. Scott B. Wilson, writing on " Birds of Tahiti and 

 the Society Group," calls it "Rupe," and he adds (The 

 Ibis, 1907, p. 377) : " During my visit to the island 

 of Rarotonga I obtained several specimens. In their 

 crops were banyan seedis, and I was told that they feed 

 on, the wild plantain and the banana. I fear that this 

 bird is likely to become extinct shortly, as its flesh is 

 highly esteemed by the natives, particularly when made 

 into eoup, while wild cats and the frequent cyclones, 



