GROUND -DOVE. 247 



167. Geopelia placida. GROUND-DOVE. 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 73 (pt. xix.), June 1st, 1845. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 2, pi. 32, Jan. 31st, 

 1911. 



Geopelia placida Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. (Lond.), 1844, p. 55, Sept. : Port Essington, Northern 



Territory. 



Geopelia tranquilla Gould, il., p. 56 : Liverpool Plains, New South Wales. 



Geopelia placida clelandi Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 186, Jan. 31st, 1912 : Coongan 



River, mid-West Australia. 



Geopelia placida melvillensis Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. I., pt. 2, p. 28, April 2nd, 1912 : 



Melville Island, Northern Territory. 



Geopelia placida hedleyi Mathews, ib., pt. 4, p. 84, Sept. 18th, 1912 : Cape York, Queensland. 



DISTRIBUTION. Australia generally. Not Tasmania. 



Adult male. Upper-surface barred everywhere with black, white and grey ; 

 fore-head and throat pale blue-grey ; hinder crown and nape earth-brown, narrowly 

 barred with blackish ; neck all round narrowly barred with black and white, each 

 feather having two black bars and three white ones ; the hind-neck darker and 

 more like the back ; entire back and wings earth-brown, barred with black, paler 

 on the outer coverts ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts blackish ; quills brown, 

 paler on the outer edges and on the inner webs towards the base ; innermost 

 secondaries like the back ; middle tail-feathers grey, the next two pairs blackish- 

 brown ; the outer feathers for the most part black, tipped with white ; the outermost 

 black, margined on the outer web, and broadly tipped with white ; breast and sides 

 of body with a pinkish tinge ; abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; axillaries and 

 under wing-coverts deep chestnut ; a patch of white at the base of the secondary- 

 quills below ; quills below, brown, inner webs inclining to rufous. Bill black, base 

 bluish-black ; iris white ; bare space round the eyes bluish-green ; tarsi and feet 

 flesh colour. Total length 210 mm. ; culmen 15, wing 104, tail 88, tarsus 17. 



Adult female. Similar in every respect to the adult male both in the colour of 

 its plumage and in measurements. 



Immature. As adult but paler and with white edges to feathers. 



Nest. A small, slight platform, about two or three inches in diameter, com- 

 posed of twigs and rootlets, or just sufficient materials to ensure the safety of the 

 contents. Usually placed on a horizontal limb of a tree, where branches or suckers 

 shoot, often overhanging a stream. 



Eggs. Clutch, two ; pure white ; smooth and glossy ; axis 21-22 mm., 

 diameter 15. 



Breeding-season. August to January, but practically all the year round. 



Distribution and forms. Australia only. Five subspecies have been named, as 

 follows : G. p. placida Gould from the Northern Territory and North-west Australia ; 

 G. p. tranquilla Gould from New South Wales, South Queensland, Victoria and 

 South Australia, much darker and also larger in every item ; G. p. clelandi Mathews 

 from mid -West Australia, a much paler form in every particular ; G. p. melvillensis 

 Mathews from Melville Island, Northern Territory, larger than G. p. placida, and 

 also lighter ; and G. p. hedleyi Mathews, from Northern Queensland, a darker form, 

 even than G. p. tranquilla, and also smaller. 



The bird described by Ogilvie-Grant as Geopelia shortridgei (Bull. B.O.C., 

 Vol. XXIII., p. 73, 1909), from Carnarvon, West Australia, is a hybrid between 

 this species and the next. 



Genus STICTOPELEIA. 



Stictopeleia Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vogel, p. xxv., 1852 (? 1853). Type (by original designa- 

 tion) : Columba cuneata Latham. 



Smallest Doves with slender bills, long wings, very long wedge-shaped tail, 

 and small legs and feet. The bill is slender and a little shorter than the head, the 



