1879.] PAPER ON THE FRUIT- PIGEONS. 67 



in colour than those from other locahties, being blackish -grev, in- 

 stead of blackish-brown." But Mr. Elliot disposes very easily of 

 this difference, saying, " this, however, cannot be considered of anv 

 specific importance." But the truth is, that, guided by the black 

 colour of the under surface of the tail, any one can pick up a true 

 Megaloprepia piiella among hundreds of the other forms. 



Mr. Elliot, as the habitat of P. puella, besides Mysol, Salwatty, 

 Waigiou, Ghemien, and Dorey, enumerates also Cape York, Jobie, 

 and New Ireland, which are wrong or doubtful. As to Cape York, 

 this locality is given on the authority of Mr. Ramsay ; but I doubt 

 whether Mr. Ramsay has ever had the opportunity of comparing a spe- 

 cimen from the northern peninsula of New Guinea with the supposed 

 M.jJuella from Cape York; and I even doubt whether Mr. Ramsay 

 is acquainted with the difference in the under surface of the tail be- 

 tween the true M. puella and 31. assimilis. Even Mr. Elliot did not 

 know the difference, as he asked me how I could distinguish 31. 

 puella from M. assimilis except by size ! Most likely Mr. Ramsay's 

 31. puella is a small, not full-grown 31. assimilis. The fact to be 

 shown is that the form with the under surface of the tail blacl- lives at 

 Cape York. For my own part, I am not disposed to believe it without 

 additional proofs, as all such birds I have seen (and many they are) 

 were from the northern peninsula of New Guinea, from Waigiou, 

 Ghemien, Salwatty, and Batanta. All the birds from Jobi and the 

 south of New Guinea (Mount Epa and Fly River) have the under 

 face of the tail dark greyish ; and these I have lately named 3Iegalo- 

 prepia poliura, which would be the eastern and southern form repre- 

 sentative of 31. puella. There is an ai)parently strong objection 

 against this view. A specimen in the Museum of Paris, marked 

 New Ireland, which I have also seen, has the under surface of the 

 tail black. But are we sure that the locality is exact? The bird was 

 collected by Lesson and Garnot during the voyage of the ' Coquille ; ' 

 and it would not be the first instance of a wrong locality given to a 

 bird collected by them. 



In a recent paper, where I have described 31. poliura, I have given 

 what I think satisfactory characters for discriminating the four forms 

 allied to 31. maynifica ; the principal differences can be tabulated as 

 follows : — 



1. Cauda inferne grisea. 



a. Major : long. tot. circa 0'"-420-0'»-400, al.0'»-240- 



Ora-220 1. M. magnifica. 



b. Media: long. tot. circa O^-SGO, al. O^-IQO 2. M. assimilis. 



c. Minor : long. tot. circa 0"-330, al. 0™-l yS-O^nO 3. M. poliura. 



2. Cauda inferne nigra : long. tot. 0"-330, al. O^'ITO 4. M. puella. 



The four forms mentioned above occupy different areas: — 



Megaloprepia puella inhabits the northern peninsula of New 

 Guinea, with the islands of Waigheu, Guebeh, Batanta, Salwatty, 

 and Mysol. 



31. poliura has been found hitherto only in the island of Jobie 

 and in the south of New Guinea (Hall Bav and Flv River). 



5* 



