A MANUAL OF THE BIBDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Adult female. Similar to the adult male but somewhat paler on the wings and 

 scapulars, and darker on the under tail-coverts ; bill dark grey, iris ochreous-red, 

 orbits carmine ; tarsi and feet pink. Wing 156. 



Immature. As adult. 



Nestling showing egg-tooth. Coloration as in adult ; head crested, and attenuated 

 third primary sprouting. 



Nest. A slight, flat structure of twigs, usually placed in a bush polygonum, 

 hakea, salt, etc. or low tree, sometimes on a stump. 



Eggs. Clutch, two ; elliptical in shape, sharply nipped off at one end ; texture 

 of shell fine ; surface glossy ; pure white. Dimensions 33 mm. by 23. 



Breeding-season. All the year round. 



Incubation-period. (In captivity) fourteen days (Sclater) ; nineteen days 

 (Butler). 



Distribution and forms. Confined to Australia. Three subspecies have been 

 differentiated as : 0. 1. lophotes (Temm. and Laugier) from Eastern Australia ; O. I. 

 whitlocki Mathews, from Western Australia, on account of its smaller size, wing 

 157 against typical wing 175 mm. ; and O. 1. stalken Mathews from Central and 

 Northern Australia, much paler form, both above and below. 



Genus LEUCOSARCIA. 



Leucosarcia Gould, Birds Austr., pt. xm., Dec. 1st, 1843. Type (by monotypy) : C. picata 

 Latham = C. melanokuca Latham. 



Largest Ground-Doves with short bills, long wings, long tail and stout short 

 legs and small feet. The bill is short, the dertrum little swollen, the tip deflexed, 

 the culmen ridge flattened posteriorly and the frontal feathers approaching on it 

 almost to nasal opening ; the nasal covering swollen, the nasal groove long and 

 narrow ; the under mandible slender, the rami narrow and deeply grooved, the gonys 

 very short and a little angulated, the interramal space almost completely feathered. 

 The wing is long and roundly pointed, the first primary showing little scalloping, 

 the succeeding five incised on the outer webs ; the primaries are rather narrow, the 

 first long but only longer than the sixth, the second and fifth subequal and little 

 shorter than the intermediate three which are subequal and longest ; the second- 

 aries are short, and there is no wing-speculum. The tail is long, about three-fourths 

 the length of the wing and is composed of fourteen broad feathers, the tips rounded 

 and the whole shape a little rounded, the upper tail-coverts long, extending more 

 than half-way down the tail while the under tail-coverts are even longer. The legs 

 are short and stout, the front of the tarsus, which is longer than the culmen, having 

 a double row of large hexagonal scutes, the outer side and back being covered with 

 minute reticulation and on the inner side a bare strip of undivided skin is seen. The 

 toes are rather short, the middle toe longest, the outer shorter than the inner, the 

 hind-toe about half the length of the middle toe and straight. The claws are short 

 and blunt, all the toes showing lateral expansion of the skin of the soles. 



Coloration : top of head white, all upper-surface slate-grey as breast ; chin 

 whitish and white crescent on breast ; abdomen white with black scalloping ; the 

 feathers having black bases and broad white edging ; tail uniform slate, wing brown. 



180. Leucosarcia melanoleuca. WONGA-WONGA. 



Gould, Vol. V., pi. 63 (pt. xm.), Dec. 1st, 1843. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 3, pi. 45, April 29th, 

 1911. 



Colutnba melanoleuca Latham, Index Ornith. Suppl., p. LIX., 1801, after May 30th : Sydney, 

 New South Wales, based on Watling drawing No. 225. 

 Columba picata Latham, ib. : same locality. 



