BRONZE-WINGED PIGEON. 251 



Genus PHAPS. 



Phaps Selby, Naturalists' Library, Pigeons, p. 194, (before Aug.) 1835. Type (by original 

 designation) : Columha chalcoptera Latham. 



Very large Ground-Doves, with slender bills, long wings, medium tail and 

 small legs and feet. The bill is larger, but formed very similarly to that of the 

 preceding genus, the tip a little less deflexed. The wing is longer and more pointed, 

 the feathers showing very little scalloping, though rather narrow, the first a little 

 incised on the inner web ; the first is long, almost as long as the second and third, 

 which are subequal and longest, and longer than the fourth ; secondaries short. 

 The tail is long and round, of sixteen broad feathers, rounded at the tips, and is a 

 little longer than half the length of the wing. The upper tail-coverts are long, about 

 three-quarters the length of the tail. The feet are short and stout, the tarsus covered 

 with a double row of strong hexagonal scutes in front, and at the sides and back with 

 very small hexagonal seutellse, scarcely recognisable separately. The toes are 

 covered with definite scutes, the middle toe longest, the outer shorter than the 

 inner, both much less than the middle one, the hind -foe still shorter, though still 

 long and straight and practically unmargined, claws rather long. 



Coloration : fore-head whitish, throat white, under coloration pale vinous, upper 

 greyish tips to the brown feathers, bronze spots on wing-coverts, primaries and tail 

 brown. 



170. Phaps chalcoptera. BRONZE-WINGED PIGEON. 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 64 (pt. xiii.), Dec. 1st, 1843. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 3, pi. 35, April 29th, 

 1911. 



Columba chalcoptera Latham, Index Ornith., Vol. II., p. 604, (before Dec. 9th) 1790 : Sydney, 



New South Wales. 



Phaps chalcoptera consobrina Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 188, Jan. 31st, 1912 : 



Parry's Creek, North-west Australia. 



Phaps chalcoptera murchisoni Mathews, ib. : East Murchison, mid-West Australia. 



Phaps chalcoptera riordani Mathews, Austral Av. Ree., Vol. I., pt. 2, p. 28, April 2nd, 1912 : 



Melville Island, Northern Territory. 



DISTRIBUTION. Australia generally. ? Tasmania. 



Adult male. Fore -head to the middle of the crown white, tinged with fulvous ; 

 sides of the crown, and a band across the head adjoining the white maroon -chestnut ; 

 hinder part of head washed with grey, like the hind-neck ; ear-coverts and sides of 

 the neck lead-grey ; back and scapulars, as also the rump and upper tail -coverts 

 dark brown, with paler brown margins to the feathers, some of the scapulars and 

 feathers of the lower back blackish-brown ; wing-coverts pale grey, with whitish 

 edgings, the outer webs of the lesser and median coverts have metallic coppery 

 reflections, those of the greater coverts are for the most part green, and those on 

 the inner secondaries purple and dark green ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and 

 quills greyish-brown, the latter edged with white on the outer webs and pale rufous 

 on the inner ones ; tail-feathers grey, with a blackish subterminal band ; eyebrow 

 and a line of feathers from the gape below the eye and skirting the maroon -chestnut 

 on the side of the crown, white ; chin and throat white ; fore-neck and upper-breast 

 pale vinous ; abdomen pale grey, becoming darker on the thighs and under tail- 

 coverts ; sides of the body, axillaries, and under wing-coverts cinnamon, like the 

 quill-lining; bill brownish-black; iris dark brown; tarsi and feet pinky -red. 

 total length 360 mm. ; culmen 28, wing 194, tail 106, tarsus 27. 



In what appears to be a very old male bird, the hinder part of the head is 

 entirely maroon-chestnut, the metallic colour on the wings very bright, inclining 

 to fiery red, instead of green, on the greater coverts, and the purple-green of the 

 secondaries is extended over a great number of feathers. 



