PHEASANT PIGEON. 243 



Adult male. Head and neck all round, as well as the greater portion of the 

 under parts, cream colour with a pinkish metallic gloss ; throat and cheeks pure 

 white ; lower flanks dark slate colour ; entire back and wings black with coppery- 

 green margins which have purple reflections ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and 

 quills black like the tail ; under wing-coverts blackish, as also the under tail-coverts, 

 the latter with coppery reflections ; bill and feet red ; iris yellowish ; bare space 

 round the eye red. Total length 406 mm. ; culmen 22, wing 240, tail 140, 

 tarsus 26. 



Adult female. Similar to the male. 



Immature female. Differs from the adult in being darker, with fine dusky 

 vermiculations on the head, neck and under-surface, but with the same coppery 

 reflections on the upper-surface. 



Nest. The usual flat and frail structure of twigs, three or four inches across. 



Eggs. Clutch, one to two, but mostly one ; elliptical in shape, sharply nipped 

 off at one end ; texture comparatively fine ; surface glossy ; white. Dimensions 

 35 mm. by 24. 



Breeding-season. October to February. 



Distribution and forms. Restricted to Queensland and New South Wales. 

 Two forms have been named : L. n. norfolciensis (Latham) from New South Wales 

 (of which C. leucomela Temminck is a synonym from South Queensland) ; and L. n. 

 qaeenslandica Mathews from North Queensland, as a paler race. 



Genus MACROPYGIA. 



Macropygia Swainson, Classif. Birds, Vol. II., p. 348, July 1st, 1837. Type (by subsequent 



designation Gray, p. 58, 1840) : C. phasianella Temminck, Planch. Color. 1821 not Trans. 



Linn. Soc. Lond., 1821 = M. tenuirostris Bonaparte. 



Coccyzura Hodgson, Journ. As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. XII., p. 937, 1843 (? 1844). Type (by 



original designation) : Coccyzura tusalia Hodgson. 



Tusalia Hodgson, ib. t same type. 



Large Pigeons with short bills, long wings, long wedge tails and small legs and 

 long toes. 



The bill is short, a little dilated at the base, the dertrum fairly strong, the gonys 

 well angulated, the sides of the under mandible faintly grooved, the interramal 

 space fully feathered ; otherwise details as in preceding. The wing is long, the 

 first primary faintly scalloped on the inner web, the second and third faintly on 

 the outer webs ; the first primary is long, about equal to the fifth, the second and 

 fifth subequal and scarcely exceeded by the third which is a trifle the longest. The 

 tail is very long and wedge shaped, composed of twelve feathers, the outside ones 

 only about half the length of the inmost pair ; the feathers are very strong and broad 

 but have the ends rounded, not truncated ; the tail is almost as long as the wing. 

 The tarsus is very short, less even than the culmen, and feathered half its length, 

 the lowermost portion showing in front a few broad horizontal scutes, the tarsus 

 bahind showing a wrinkled skin only, save at base, where a few obscure minute 

 reticulations remain. The toes are as in the preceding but much weaker. 



Coloration rufous-brown above, paler brownish below. 



165. Macropygia phasianella. PHEASANT PIGEON. 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 75 (pt. xvii.), Dec. 1st, 1844. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 2, pi. 30, Jan. 31st, 

 j.y JL i 



Columba phasianella Temminck, Trans. Linn. Soc. (Lond ), Vol. XIII., pt, I., p. 129, 1821 : 

 near Port Jackson, New South Wales. 



Macropygia phasianella robinsoni Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p 185, Jan. 31st, 1912 : 

 Alexandra, Northern Territory. 



DISTRIBUTION. Northern Territory. Queensland, New South Wales. 



R 2 



