242 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



throughout Africa both are present as also in the Palsearctic Region. Fruit Pigeons 

 range from India to Australia and the Pacific Islands, where they are generally 

 associated with a series of Ground Pigeons which are here included in the Turturida}, 

 probably incorrectly. 



FAMILY COLUMBIDJE. 



We have allowed in this family two genera, Leuc&mdcena and Macr&pygia, 

 owing to the prejudice of Garrod's observations on the internal features, but the 

 former may be an aberrant Fruit Pigeon and the latter an aberrant Turtle-Dove. 

 As these groups need careful investigation in a scientific manner we have preferred 

 to leave this matter as it stands without prejudice for the present. 



Genus LEUCOMELOENA. 



teucomelasna Bonaparte, Comptes Rendus Acad. Sci. Paris, Vol. XXXIX., p. 1104, Dec. 

 1854. Type (by monotypy) : Columba norfolcienais Latham. 



Large Pigeons with short bills, long wings, long square tail, short legs half- 

 feathered in front and strong feet. The bill is less than the length of the head, a 

 swollen dertrum with tip slightly decurved about half the length ; the culmen 

 ridge being flat behind, nostrils linear slits practically hidden by a swollen mem- 

 branous operculum, more than half the length of the nasal groove ; the nostrils are 

 parallel to the edge of the upper mandible which is parallel to the culmen as far as 

 the nasal groove extends, from which point it descends to the tip, which is narrowed 

 but not greatly from the base . The under niandi ble has a short gonys, the mandi bular 

 rami pronounced and grooved, the interramal space notable and completely 

 feathered. The culmen is less than the tarsus and less than one-tenth of the wing. 

 There is no bare space round the eye. The wing is long, composed of strong 

 broad feathers, the second and third only slightly scalloped on the outer webs and 

 not at all on the inner webs ; the first primary is long, equal to the fourth, the 

 second and third subequal and longest. The tail is long and square, more than 

 half the length of the wing, the feathers very broad, the tips truncate, the upper 

 and under tail-coverts short but composed of strong feathers. The legs are short, 

 the tarsus being half -feathered in front but not behind where the scaling consists of 

 small hexagonal scales, the front having a single row of strong horizontal scutes ; 

 the tarsus is longer than the culmen but shorter than the middle toe ; all the 

 toes are covered with strong scutes and the middle toe is very long with a very long 

 claw, the outer and inner subequal ; the hind-toe long with a strong membranous 

 edge on each side, on the inside attached to similar membrane developed at the 

 base of the inner toe. 



Coloration greenish back above with head white as under-surface to abdomen 

 which is slate. 



164. Leucomelcena norfolciensis. WHITE-HEADED FRUIT PIGEON. 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 59 (pt. xn.), Sept. 1st, 1843. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 2, pi. 29, Jan. 31st, 

 1911. 



Columba norfolciensis Latham, Index Ornith., Suppl., p. LX., after May 30th, 1801: Norfolk 



Island (errore) = New South Wales. 



Columba leucomela Temminck, Trans. Linn. Soc. (Lond.), Vol. XIII., pt. I., p. 126, 1821 : 



Queensland. 



Leucomelcena norfolciensis queenslandica Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. III., pt. 3, p. 54, 



April 7th, 1916 : Queensland. 



DISTRIBUTION. Queensland, New South Wales. 



