254 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



The bill is very similar to those of the preceding genera, but stouter, the dertrum 

 a little more swollen, and less deflexed, the gonys scarcely angulated and little 

 ascending, the interramal space anteriorly unfeathered. 



The wing is very long, with the first primary longest, the secondaries short and 

 none of the primaries showing any scalloping either on the outer or inner webs. 

 The tail is very short, composed of fourteen rectrices, not very broad, with rounded 

 tips and forming a rounded wedge, less than half the length of the wing, The upper 

 tail-coverts are very long, reaching almost to the end of the tail while the under tail- 

 coverts are as long as the tail itself. The legs are short and very stout, the front of 

 the tarsus covered with two rows of strong hexagonal scales, the sides and back 

 with very fine reticulations, the tarsus a little longer than the culmen. The toes 

 rather slender, the middle toe longest, the inner longer than the outer, the hind-toe 

 with a scant lateral margin and comparatively shorter but with a very long claw 

 similar to the long claws of the anterior toes, narrow and little curved but not 

 flattened. 



Coloration upper sandy -reddish to brown, wing-feathers pale grey, under- 

 surface blue ; eye, fore-head and spot on chest white ; top of head, cheeks and 

 throat black ; metallic spot on inner secondaries ; female not so boldly marked. 



172. Histriophaps histrionica. FLOCK-PIGEON. 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 66 (pt. H.), March 1st, 1841. Mathews, Vol. L, pt. 3, pi. 37, April 29th, 

 1911. 



Columba (Peristera) histrionica Gould, Birds Austr., pt. n., March 1st, 1841 ; Liverpool 

 Plains, New South Wales (interior). 



Phaps histrionica alisteri Mathews, Nov. Zool., Vol. XVIII., p. 189, Jan. 31st, 1912 : Parry's 

 Creek, North-west Australia. 



DISTRIBUTION. New South Wales, Queensland, Northern Territory. North-west Australia. 



Adult male. General colour above, including the entire back, wings, and tail 

 sandy-brown ; marginal coverts round the bend of the wing, bastard-wing, and 

 primary-coverts blue-grey, more or less margined with white on the outer webs ; 

 primary-quills pale grey with sandy edges and white tips to all but the outer two, 

 inner webs rufous with the exception of the first quill, outer secondary -quills grey, 

 darker towards the tips, inner ones sandy on the outer webs with a metallic-purple 

 and green gloss followed by grey and an ovate spot of white ; middle tail-feathers 

 like the back, the outer feathers grey, with a dark, subterminal band and tipped with 

 white, sometimes in the form of a spot, some of the lateral ones sandy on the outer 

 webs ; sides of face, ear-coverts and crown of head black ; fore-head, lores, a line 

 behind the eye, almost enclosing the ear-coverts, and a patch on the lower throat 

 pure white ; fore-neck, breast, and abdomen blue-grey, like the axillaries and under 

 wing-coverts ; lower flanks sandy-brown, becoming paler on the shorter under 

 tail-coverts, the long ones grey, with sandy-white tips ; quills pale brown, with a 

 patch of chestnut towards the base ; bill brown ; iris dark brown ; tarsi and feet 

 in front leaden-blue, back of tarsi flesh-red. Total length about 317 mm. ; culmen 

 24, wing 193, tail 83, tarsus 26. 



Adult female. Differs from the adult male in having the entire upper-parts, 

 including the head, darker sandy -brown, as also a wide greyish-brown band on the 

 fore-neck and breast, the black on the chin and throat only faintly indicated, and 

 the fore-head inclining to whitish ; wing-speculum very faintly indicated and the 

 white tips to the primaries absent. Total length about 303 mm. ; culmen 24, 

 wing 190, tail 83, tarsus 26. 



Immature male. Similar to the adult female but with the fore-part of the 

 head white, as in the male, and with the white spots and white tips to the primaries. 



Immature female. Differs from the adult in having the wing-coverts and tips 



