77 



COLUMBID.E. 



COLUMBIDxl-:. 



78 



greatest number of individuals. Their low cooing was heard frequently 

 from the large, trees, and every thing indicated that they were 





Ptilinnpits cyuno.rirtns. 



Description. Total length from the end of the bill to the extremity 

 of the tail, 8 inches 6 lines (French) ; bill delicate and black ; iris 

 of a red-brown ; tarsi short, and nearly entirely feathered ; toes 

 with a membranous border, and of a lively orange colour ; head, rump, 

 upper purt of the body, wings, and tail, of an agreeable grass-green ; a 

 large patch (calotte) of a beautiful indigo-blue covers the occiput ; 

 elongated blue spots occupy the centre of the sabalar feathers, which 

 are bordered with a straight yellow line ; the internal and hidden part 

 of the same feathers is brown ; the quills are entirely brown, and 

 bordered at the external edge with a line of canary yellow ; the tail is 

 square and rectilinear ; the feathers which compose it are fourteen in 

 number, brown, their extremities white below, and of a green similar 

 to that of the back above, passing into black in the middle, and each 

 terminating within with a white spot; the two exterior ones are 

 brown, bordered with yellow externally, as are the two or three next ; 

 the shaft is brown ; the throat to half-way down the neck is ash-gray ; 

 the breast is grayish-green ; the belly and the flanks are at first green 

 mingled with some yellow borderiugs, and then comes a large patch 

 of yellowish-white extending on each Hide so as to form a kind of 

 girdle ; the feathers of the thighs are green ; those of the vent, white 

 and pale yellow ; the lower tail-coverts are yellow mingled with green. 

 M. Lesson mentions another individual rather smaller, with some 

 differences of plumage, which he supposes to have been either a female 

 or a young one. Mr. Selby remarks upon the fact that no notice is 

 taken of the form of the first quill-feather in this description, and 

 regret* it, but entertains little or uo doubt of its presence in nearly a 

 similar form to that assumed by the rest of this group, of which 

 P. purpvratat is the type. 



Carpoptaya (Selby). " In this group," says Mr. Selby, " which is 

 composed of birds of a much larger size than the preceding, the 

 wings, though possessing the same relative proportions, have no 

 emargination, or sudden narrowing of the tip of the first quill. Their 

 tarsi also are not so thickly or entirely feathered ; and their nostrils 

 are placed nearer to the base of the bill. In some species, green, 

 yellow, and purple are the prevailing colours; in others, a rich 

 bronzed or metallic colour composes the upper plumage, exhibiting 

 hade* of deep green an<l purple, uncording to the light in which it is 

 viewed, while in those which lead the way to the typical pigeons, the 

 tints become less vivid and more uniform in their distribution. Their 

 bill is considerably depressed at the base, the membrane in which the 

 nostrils are placed but little pToninfOt or swollen, the. tip compressed 

 and tooderately arched, the- tomia slightly sinuated. The forehead 

 is low, and the feathers advance considerably upon the soft portion of 

 the liilL In many of them a caruncle, or gristly knob, varying in nixe 

 and ihape according to the species, grows upon the basal part of the 

 upper mandible during the season of propagation. This is supposed 

 to be common to both sexes, as the female is described with it in 

 I 'upi'irey's ' Voyage.' After this epoch it is rapidly absorbed, and its 

 situation scarcely to be observed upon the surface of the bill. The 

 feet are powerful, and formed'for grasping, the soles being fiat and 

 greatly extended. As in the other members of this group, the hind 

 toe U fully developed and long, and the exterior longer than the inner 

 toe. They inhabit the forests of India, the Moluccas, Celebes, Aus- 

 tralia, and the Pacific Isles. Their food consists of fruits and berries. 

 TIi it of tli prwiout nutmeg, or rather its soft covering, known to us 

 name of mace, at certain seasons affords a favourable repast to 



some species, and upon this luxurious diet they become so loaded 

 with fat as frequently, when shot, to burst asunder when they foil to 

 the ground. And here we may remark on the remarkable provision 

 nature has made for the propagation as well as the dissemination of 

 this valuable spice ; for the nutmeg itself, which is generally swallowed 

 with the whole of its pulpy covering, passes uninjured through the 

 digestive organs of the bird, and is thus dispersed throughout tha 

 group of the Moluccas and other islands of the east. Indeed, from 

 repeated experiments, it appears that an artificial preparation ana- 

 logous to that which it undergoes in its passage through the bird, is 

 necessary to ensure the growth and fertility of the nut ; and it was 

 not till after many unsuccessful attempts had been made that a 

 lixivium of lime, in which the nuts were steeped for a certain time, 

 was found to have the wished-for effect, and to induce the germinat- 

 ing tendency. The fruit of the Banyan (Ficus religiosa), the sacred 

 tree of the Hindoos, is also a favourite repast of all the pigeons of this 

 group, as well as of the stronger-billed Vinago." 



C. oceanica. It is the Columba oceanica of Lesson. This species, 

 according to Lesson, is the Moulouesse, or Mouleux, of the natives of 

 Oualan, and though it approaches the Nutmeg Pigeon, Colombo, 

 (Carpophcuja) (enea, very nearly, it differs from it in size, being one- 

 third less, and in the distribution of some of its colours, " The 

 Nutmeg Pigeon lives more particularly in tha eastern Moluccas, aud 

 especially at New Guinea and Waigiou, while the Oceanic Fruit- 

 Pigeon is abundant in the little isle of Oualan, in the midst of the 

 great archipelago of the Carolines, and seems to exist in the Pelew 

 Islands, where Wilson mentions it under the name of eyep." Lesson 

 further observes, that it may be possibly spread over the Philippines, 

 and at Magiudanao. 



Oceanic Fruit-Pigeon (Carpophaga ocenniea}. 



Description. Total length, 14 inches (French), including the 

 tail, which measures five ; the bill, an inch long, is black, strong, and 

 surmounted at its base by a rounded aud very black caruncle ; the 

 feet are very strong and of a bright orange colour ; the tarsi are 

 feathered nearly down to the toes, which have a well-developed 

 border ; the wings are pointed, aud only one inch shorter than the 

 tail, which is almost rectilinear. The feathers of the forehead, cheeks 

 and throat, are whitish mixed with gray ; the head and the back 

 of the neck are of a deep slaty gray ; the back, rump, wing-coverts, 

 quills, and tail-feathers, are of a uniform metallic green, passing into 

 brown on the interior of the great feathers ; the breast and upper 

 part of the belly are gray, with a tint of rust-colour ; the lower part 

 of the belly, the vent, the thighs, and the lower tail-coverts, are a 

 deep ferruginous red ; the tail-feathers on the under side are a bright 

 reddish-green (vert rougeaire clair). (Lesson.) 



M. Lesson thinks that this, very probably, is the species mentioned 

 by " the celebrated naturalist, Forster (and not Captain Forater, as 

 the reading is, twice, in M. Temminck's work, torn. i. p. 89, 8vo), 

 who observed in the Isle of Tanna, one of the New Hebrides (Cook's 

 'Second Voyage,' vol. iii. p. 179, 4to), a Nutmeg Pigeon of the same 

 species as that which occurred at the Friendly Islands." 



The caruncle shown in the cut is dissipated after the breeding 

 season, leaving nothing but a slight cutaneous wrinkle. M. Lesson 

 says that the bird feeds on a berry which is very abundant in the 

 small Isle of Oualau, and that it is not disturbed by the natives. 



Mr. Selby gives as a form apparently belonging to this division of 

 the Columbida, the following species : Columlia Pliasianella (Tenim.), 

 the structure of the bill being, as he observes, intermediate between 

 that of Vinago and Columlm, and the feet formed upon the same 

 plan as those of the rest of the Pl 



