PARTRIDGE PIGEON. 257 



dertrum half the length of the culmen ; the nasal groove sharply defined, the culmen 

 ridge posteriorly flattened, the nasal covering much swollen ; the lower mandible 

 stout, the gonys not angulated but ascending, the mandibular rami ungrooved and 

 the interramal space feathered. The bill is stouter in the male than in the female, 

 and in the form called Terraphaps by Mathews the bill in the male is abnormally 

 stout, the depth being almost half the length of the culmen, the dertrum, much 

 swollen and more than half the length of the culmen, the nasal groove occupied by 

 the nasal covering, the mandibular rami very short and ungrooved, the gonys longer 

 and more rapidly ascending without any angulation ; in the female, however, the 

 bill agrees with that of Geophaps. There is a notable bare space about the eyes. 

 The wing is long, the first primary, a little incised on the inner web, the third to the 

 sixth rather strongly incised on the outer webs ; the first primary is long, a little 

 shorter than the seventh, the second and sixth a little longer and subequal, the 

 third to fifth a little longer still, subequal and longest ; the secondaries long, reaching 

 almost to the seventh primary. The tail is long, composed of fourteen broad, 

 rounded feathers, and nearly straight, only a little rounded ; the upper tail-coverts 

 very long reaching almost to the end of the tail-feathers and the under tail-coverts 

 nearly as long. The legs are short and very stout, the tarsus very thick, the front 

 being covered with a double row of stout hexagonal scutes, the sides and back with 

 less well-marked hexagonal scales. The toes are very short, the middle toe longest, 

 the inner longer than the outer, which scarcely exceeds the hind -toe. All the claws 

 are rather long but little curved ; lateral skin at sides of hind -toe obsolete. 



Coloration earth-brown above, a small bronze spot on inner secondaries, white 

 throat with black markings bordering it, more or less pronounced ; chest brownish, 

 belly slaty, flanks and abdomen white. 



175. Geophaps scripta. PARTRIDGE PIGEON. 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 67 (pt. vii.), June 1st, 1842. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 3, pi. 40, April 29th, 

 1911. 



Columba scripta Temminck, [Trans. Linn. Soc. (Lond.), Vol. XIII., pt. I., p. 127, 1821 : 



Shoalwater Bay, Queensland. 



Columba inscripta Wagler, Syst. Av., Columba, sp. 59, p. (249), (before Oct.) 1827. New 



name for C. scripta Temm. 



Geophaps scripta bourkei Mathews, Austral Av. Rec., Vol. II., pt. 7, p. 124, Jan. 28th, 1915 : 



Bourke, New South Wales. 



DISTRIBUTION. Queensland, New South Wales. 



Adult. General colour of the upper-surface earth-brown, including the head, 

 entire back, and middle tail-feathers ; wings darker than the back, with broad 

 pale margins to the feathers ; wing-speculum wavy green, with coppery reflections ; 

 bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills pale brown, with whitish edges to the 

 outer webs of the latter ; margins of the secondary -quills rufous ; outer tail-feathers 

 rufous -grey, with black tips ; a white line on the lores, which surmounts the narrow 

 black band round the eye ; chin and throat white, as also a line along the cheeks, 

 which includes the ear-coverts ; a line of black feathers which encircles the white 

 throat and extends on to the sides of the neck behind the ear-coverts ; fore-neck 

 and sides of the neck like the back ; breast and middle of the abdomen blue-grey ; 

 sides of the body and under wing-coverts white ; small marginal coverts on the 

 under edge of the wing similar in colour to the upper-surface ; axillaries white at 

 base, and dusted with grey towards the ends ; lower -abdomen, thighs, and under 

 tail-coverts sandy -buff, the long under tail-coverts blackish, paler on the outer webs ; 

 bill black ; iris black ; naked skin surrounding the eyes bluish-lead colour, the- 

 corner immediately before and behind the eye mealy vinous -red ; feet and frontal 



s 



