PURPLE -CROWNED FRUIT PIGEON. 265 



of the wing-coverts, scapulars and secondaries with broader yellow tips ; the primaries 

 with white edgings and pale yellow tips ; the tail-feathers also green with pale grey 

 broad tips and also largely edged with yellow ; throat greyish, softening to green with 

 faint yellowish tips ; the breast darker and duller green with faint yellow tips ; the 

 abdomen lemon-yellow mixed with orange-red feathers ; the sides, flanks and thighs 

 green with pale yellow tips ; under tail-coverts pale yellow ; inner wing-lining green 

 with yellow tips ; lower aspect of primaries lead-grey ; a narrow lemon-yellow line 

 from gape to eye ; and fore-head just showing beginning of magenta cap. Iris 

 yellow ; bill and feet green. First primary not so much attenuated as in adult. 



Nest. Placed about 50 feet from the ground. A very slight platform, 5 or 6 

 inches across and about 2 inches in thickness, composed of dry twigs placed in a 

 slender horizontal fork. The contents may be easily seen through the nest from 

 beneath. 



Eggs. Clutch, one ; white ; an ellipse in form ; texture of shell fine ; surface 

 glossy. Dimensions 29 mm. by 20. 



Breeding -season. October to February. 



Distribution and forms. Tropical Northern Australia and probably some of 

 the Moluccas. Two forms have been accepted : P. r. regina (Swainson) from Eastern 

 Australia, and P. r. ewingii Gould, from Northern Territory and North-west 

 Australia, with a paler crown and paler abdomen patch and an orange band on the 

 breast. 



182. Ptilinopus superbus. PURPLE-CROWNED FRUIT PIGEON. 



Gould, Vol. V., pL 57 (pt. xiv.), March 1st, 1844. Mathews, Vol. I., pt. 2, pi. 24, Jan. 31st, 

 1911 



Coluniba superba Temminck et Knip, Les Pigeons, p. 75, pi. 33, 1810 : [Otaheiti] = Halma- 



hera. 



Columha cyanovirens Desmarest, Diet. Sci. Nat., Vol. XL., p. 343, June 24th, 1826 ; Lesson, 



Voy. "Coquille," Zool., pi. 42, f. 1, July 25th, 1827 : New Guinea. 



Ptilonopus leucogaster Swainson, Classif. Birds, Vol. II., p. 347, July 1st, 1837. New name 



for C. cyanovirens. 



Lamprotreron porphyrostictus Gould, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser IV., Vol. XIII., p. 137, Feb. 



1st, 1874 : Cape York, Queensland. 



Ptilopus minutus Campbell, Emu, Vol. V., pt. in., p. 155, Jan. 1st, 1906 : Cairns, Queensland. 



DISTRIBUTION. Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania (accidental). 



Adult male. Crown of head dark purple ; lores, sides of face and band round 

 the occiput green, as also the entire back and wings ; the scapulars and some of the 

 inner median coverts showing subterminal black spots ; lesser wing-coverts purplish- 

 blue, forming a shoulder patch ; remainder of the lesser and outer median coverts 

 green, edged with yellow ; greater coverts green on the outer webs and margined 

 with yellow, inner webs black ; bastard-wing, primary -coverts and quills black, 

 some of the inner primary-quills edged with yellow, more broadly on the secondaries ; 

 innermost secondaries with a certain amount of green on the outer webs ; the two 

 middle tail-feathers green, with pale tips ; remainder of the tail-feathers black on 

 the inner webs, green on the outer ones, and tipped with white ; a large patch of 

 orange-red on the hind-neck and mantle ; throat whitish-grey ; fore-neck and chest 

 lavender-grey, the feathers on the fore-neck, and sides of neck barred with magenta ; 

 a blue-black band across the breast, followed by three irregular white bands with 

 two, more or less, complete green ones, the feathers of which are fringed with white ; 

 under tail -co verts white, with green on the inner webs ; under-surface of tail lead- 

 grey, with white tips ; under wing-coverts and axillaries grey, tipped with white 

 some of the outer ones being more or less green ; bill green ; iris yellow ; feet red. 

 Total length 213 mm. ; culmen 18, wing 130, tail 67, tarsus 19. 



Adult female. Differs from the male in the absence of the lavender-grey and the 



