Fruit Pigeons 417 



Distinguished from all the other members of this group by having the under 

 wing-coverts yellow, is a genus (Megaloprepia) of six handsome species ranging 

 from the northern Moluccas through the Papuan Islands to Australia. They 

 are strictly arboreal in their habits, feeding entirely on fruits, berries, and seeds, 

 and frequenting especially the lofty fig-trees and palms. Of the two species 

 inhabiting Australia the Magnificent Fruit Pigeon (M. magnified} is, according 

 to Gould, the most splendid Pigeon known from that country. It is about 

 sixteen inches long, the head and neck being pale gray, with the remainder 

 of the upper parts as well as the wings a rich golden green ; there is an irregular 

 band of light yellow across the wings, and the tail is a deep, bronzy green, while 

 a line down the throat and the whole of the breast and abdomen is a rich deep 

 purple, the under surface of the shoulder, the thighs, and vent deep gamboge- 

 yellow. They are rather shy birds of quiet habits and not easily discovered 

 unless they utter their loud, hoarse call, which is quite unlike that of any other 

 bird. They feed entirely on the wild fig and nutlike fruits of the various large 

 palms. The sexes are similar in plumage, though the female is somewhat 

 smaller. In northeastern Australia this gives place to the Allied Fruit Pigeon 

 (M. assimilis), a species of similar plumage, but only about fourteen inches in 

 length; while in central New Guinea there is a still smaller form (M. poliura) 

 that is scarcely thirteen inches long. The final member of this group to be 

 mentioned is the New Caledonian Pigeon (Drepanoptila holosericea), which is 

 distinguished by having the primaries curiously divided at the tip and the legs 

 entirely feathered; it is confined to New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines. 



Fruit Pigeons. The true Fruit Pigeons comprising the group Carpopha- 

 gince number about seventy-five species, disposed in eleven genera. They are 

 birds of large size, some of them indeed being among the largest of the family, 

 agreeing with the last group in the rather thin bill and the absence of a yellow 

 wing-band, but differing from them in the generally longer bill which is very 

 distensible at base, thus permitting them to swallow fruits of large size. The 

 plumage is not so variegated as in their relatives just described, and in all but 

 one of the genera the tail consists of fourteen feathers, the exception (Hemi- 

 phaga) having but twelve, and in all but one the head is without a crest. 



The first that we may mention is a monotypic form (Serresius galeatus) from 

 the Marquesas Islands, distinguished by having the feathered skin on the fore- 

 head of a saddle-like shape and covering half the bill. The plumage is dark 

 shining green above, with head, neck, and lower parts dark gray. The posses- 

 sion of a fleshy knob at the base of the bill characterizes the genus Globicera, 

 which embraces eight species of the Polynesian and the Papuan islands. Sev- 

 eral of the species are confined to single islands and are only known from the 

 type specimens collected some sixty years ago. But little is known of their 

 habits and it is not improbable some of them may now be extinct. 



The typical Fruit Pigeons to the numberof more than fifty species were formerly 

 comprised in the genus Carpophaga, but by elevating what are sometimes con- 

 sidered subgenera to full rank, the number in this genus has been reduced to 

 about twenty-five. In these the general plumage is mostly metallic on the upper 



