534 MR. D. G. ELLIOT ON THE GENUS PTILOPUS. [May 7, 



logists. I do not find, after a careful comparison of specimens 

 from the two localities, that the birds from Timor and Australia 

 show any characters that should separate them as distinct species. 

 Desmarest, in the ' Dictionuaire des Sciences,' gives a species of 

 Ptilopus as Columba purpurata. This has been referred to the 

 Pt. fasciatus of Peale. As, however, the description mentions 

 yellow and orange colours on the belly, and, moreover, this bird is 

 referred to plate 34 of Temminck and Kuip's ' Pigeons,' which re- 

 presents Pt. ewingii, I have placed Desmarest' s name among the 

 synonyms given above. 



Adult male. Forehead and crown rose-colour, margined with 

 yellow. Sides of head greyish. Throat light yellow. Breast pale 

 green, feathers tipped with yellow. Abdomen orange, with a pale 

 lilac band crossing the upper part. Flanks green. Crissum and 

 under tail-coverts orange-yellow. Back of neck and upper parts 

 bright green. Wings bluish green. Primaries brownish black on 

 inner webs, dark green on outer, margined with yellow, the first 

 abruptly and greatly attenuated. Secondaries bluish green ; base 

 of inner webs brownish black, margined with light yellow. Tail 

 bright green, with a broad terminal yellowish-white bar. Bill 

 black, with yellow tip. Feet brownish. Total length 9 in., wing 5, 

 tail 3^, culmen ^. (Specimen figured by Bonaparte.) 



12. Ptilopus rarotongensis. 



Ptilinopus rarotongensis, Hartl. & Finsch, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1871, 

 p. 30 ; Graffe, Journ. Mus. Godeff. 1873, pi. 7. fig. I. 



Hah. Cook's Islands {Finsch fy Hartlaub) ; Savage Island 

 (Whitmee, Brenchley). 



A specimen in the British Museum from Savage Island, one of 

 the Friendly group, is apparently of this species, and answers quite 

 well to the description given by Finsch and Hartlaub. The spot 

 on the lower portion of the breast is rosy red in the centre, sur- 

 rounded by very dark purple. Abdomen and under tail-coverts 

 are yellow, the latter strongly tinged with orange towards the ends. 



"Adult. Front and vertex purplish violet-red, surrounded by a 

 narrow indistinct line of yellow ; occiput, sides of head, neck, crop, 

 and upper part of breast delicate grey, the feathers of the latter bifur- 

 cate and with a pale yellow cross band ; chin and middle of throat 

 white, washed with pale yellow ; breast and remainder of underparts 

 yellow, purer on the back and under tail-coverts, paler on the anal 

 region ; the sides washed with pale greyish green, the same as the 

 feathered tarsus ; on the middle of the lower portion of the breast a 

 large spot of dark purplish red ; back and upper parts vivid grass- 

 green ; primaries and their coverts on the outer web and end bril- 

 liant dark green, with a very narrow but distinct white margin, the 

 inner web black ; secondaries also dark green, but with a somewhat 

 broader yellow margin along the outer web ; coverts of the secondaries 

 dark green, narrowly margined externally and at the end with yellow ; 

 larger shoulder-coverts brilliant dark green, broadly margined at the 

 end with grass-green ; wing beneath ashy grey ; under wing-coverts 



