APPENDIX A 295 



very striking species, of rather lesser proportions and 

 very much rarer, was Muller's Fruit-Pigeon {Carpophaga 

 mulleri) easily distinguished by its white throat, the bold 

 black ring round its neck and its shining chestnut mantle. 

 Among the handsomest was Carpophaga rufiventris, a 

 bird with the breast cinnamon and the wings and back 

 metahic green, copper and purple. Lastly a very striking 

 form was the large creamy-white Pigeon {MyrisHcivora 

 spilorrhoa) with the flight feathers, tips of the tail- 

 feathers and under tail-coverts blackish. It appears 

 to be entirely confined to the mangrove swamps and was 

 observed breeding in May along the creeks near the 

 mouth of the river, no less than seven nests being found 

 in one tree. 



As already stated among the smaller Fruit-Pigeons 

 many are very beautifully marked and brilliantly 

 coloured, but always with the most harmonious shades. 

 It would seem as though Nature had almost exhausted 

 her scheme of colouration in dealing with some of these 

 birds ; for we find two totally different species, Ptilopiis 

 zonurus and P. gestroi, occurring together in which the 

 markings and colours of the plumage are almost identical ; 

 on the under-surface the two species are practically alike, 

 both have the chin and throat pale lavender, extending 

 in a ring round the neck, the throat orange, the chest 

 washed with vinous and the remainder of the under-parts 

 green ; on the upper-surface, the top of the head and 

 nape are greenish-yellow and the rest of the upper-parts 

 green, but in P. zonurus the median wing-coverts are 

 green with a subterminal spot of bright pink, while in 

 P. gestroi the least wing-coverts are crimson and the 

 next series grey fringed with greenish-yellow. Another 

 parahel case of close resemblance is found between the 

 small Ptilopus nanus and the larger P. coronulaUis. 

 Though really extremely distinct species the under-parts 

 are very similarly coloured both being green with a bright 



