266 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OP AUSTRALIA. 



purple band on the breast, which is green like the throat ; the orange-red patch on 

 the hind -neck and mantle, which is like the back ; the magenta of the head is replaced 

 by a purplish-black spot on the occiput ; and the blue shoulder patch of the male 

 is absent ; bill dark indigo-blue ; iris light yellow ; feet scarlet. Total length 

 212 mm. ; culmen, 17, wing 128, tail 59, tarsus 17. 



Young female of the year. Like the adult female, but the occipital spot is 

 represented only by a patch of darker green. 



Young female. Is green above, including the head, with a certain amount of 

 coppery reflections, and with pale narrow margins to the feathers on the lower back, 

 rump and upper tail-coverts, as also the scapulars and lesser wing-coverts ; median 

 and greater coverts more broadly margined with yellow, like the innermost 

 secondaries ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills blackish, the latter narrowly 

 edged with white on the outer webs ; middle tail-feathers golden-brown, the outer 

 feathers being darker with whitish tips ; throat grey ; fore-neck and chest, as also 

 the sides of neck and sides of body, green, with pale edges to the feathers ; abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts white, more or less, washed with yellow ; under wing-coverts 

 dark green, with pale yellowish margins ; under aspect of quills lead-grey. 



The young resemble those of P. swainsoni, particularly in having narrow 

 yellow margins to the primaries and secondaries, and to the tips of the feathers 

 on the chest and breast ; they do not show the forked or split feathers on those 

 parts before the end of the second year, although the green bands on the flanks are 

 conspicuous in the nestling. 



Nest. A platform, about three inches in diameter, composed of a few twigs. 

 Usually situated in scrub or in a small tree at a height of two to ten feet from the 

 ground. 



Eggs. Clutch, one usually (sometimes two) ; elliptical in form ; texture of 

 shell somewhat fine, excepting the smaller end, which is slightly granular ; surface 

 glossy ; colour white ; slightly toned, or of a faint creamy tint ; axis 29-31 mm., 

 diameter 22 mm. 



Breeding -season. October to February. 



Distribution and forms. Through the Moluccas and New Guinea and ranging 

 down the East Coast of Australia, but as yet no definite subspecies have been 

 determined. 



Genus MEGALOPREPIA. 



Megaloprepia Reichenbach, Nat. Syst. Vogel, p. xxvi., 1852 (? 1853). Type (by original 

 designation) : Columba magnified Temminck. 



Large Fruit Pigeons with medium bills, long wings, very long tail and small legs 

 and feet. The bill is broader basally than any of the preceding, the tip strongly 

 deflected, no marked dertrum noticeable ; the culmen ridge flattened posteriorly, 

 anteriorly developed and decurved ; the nasal groove is long more than half the 

 length, the nasal apertures linear and placed forwards in the groove, the nasal 

 covering delicate and unswollen, though the bill is broad at base ; the frontal 

 feathers extend a little on the bill, the skull apparently very flattened ; the rami 

 of the under mandible are a little bowed, the interramal space fully feathered, the 

 gonys very short and sharply angulated. The wing is long and pointed, the first 

 primary not at all scalloped, the succeeding four a little incised on outer webs, 

 the feathers broad ; the first primary is equal to the sixth, the fourth the longest, 

 the third and fifth subequal and very little shorter, the second scarcely less than the 

 fifth ; the secondaries short. The tail is rounded, composed of fourteen broad 

 feathers with rounded tips, and is three-quarters the length of the wing ; the upper 

 and under tail-coverts are short, only about one-third the length of the tail. The 

 tarsus is stout but very short, only about the length of the culmen ; the lower portion 



