FRUIT-PIGEONS. 367 
o 
the feathers on the breast are forked at the extremity, and there is a well-marked 
cap on the top of the head. Among these the Eastern Australian painted pigeon 
(P. swainsoni) has the crown rose-lilac, surrounded by a narrow ring of yellow ; 
the upper-parts are mostly greenish yellow, the inner quills being tipped with deep 
blue; the breast is dull green, each of the forked feathers shading into silvery grey 
at the tip; and there is a lilac band between the breast and the orange abdomen. 
The third group (Lamprotreron) is distinguished by a broad blue-black band 
separating the breast from the abdomen. Only two species belong to this group, 
viz. P. superbus and P. temmincki, the former being very common in New Guinea 
and Australia. The other groups of this section of the genus, in which the first 
primary is attenuated at the extremity, include eleven species, which, unlike 
those previously mentioned, have the tail rather short, and are all inhabitants of 
New Guinea or the islands immediately to the east and west. The remaining sub- 
genera differ from those already mentioned in not having the first flight-feathers 
narrowed, while none have the head, neck, and breast uniform rose-carmine. They 
include twenty-nine species, many of which are exceedingly beautiful, but none 
more so than P. eugeniw from the Solomon Islands. In both sexes of the latter 
the head is pure white, and the rest of the upper-parts bronze-green, with a small 
grey patch on the shoulder and spots on the wing-coverts of the same colour; the 
throat and chest are dark purple-red, surrounded by a dull purple band; and the 
breast is greyish green, shading into whitish on the abdomen. 
Wart-Pigeons, Of the four other genera of the subfamily we may mention Chrys- 
ee, cenas, which is distinguished by having the inner webs of the quills 
yellow or orange-yellow, and contains three species from the Fiji Islands, one 
being the splendid C. victor, the male of which has the general plumage bright 
orange, with the head and throat olive-yellow, and the bill and feet green. The 
female has the entire plumage rich green, the head and throat being yellowish 
green, and the bill and feet black. 
Another genus includes the wart-pigeons (Alectrenas) of Madagascar, in which 
the plumage is mostly deep blue, and the feathers of the neck are deeply forked 
at the extremity. Two of the species have the tail blue ; in one of these the crown 
of the head is red, while in the other it is grey; in the third and fourth species the 
tail is red, the former having the head of a light grey colour, while in the latter it 
is deep slate-blue. Finally, the one species of Drepanoptila, from New Caledonia 
and the Isle of Pines, is peculiar in having the outer flight-feathers divided at the 
tip and the legs entirely feathered. 
Thesg third subfamily includes the true fruit- pigeons (Car- 
pophagine), the giants of the family, none of them being smaller 
than a rock-dove, and many larger. They have the bill rather long and distensible 
at the base, thus enabling them to swallow large fruits whole. Their plumage is 
not much variegated, and in six out of the seven genera there are fourteen tail- 
feathers, the seventh (Hemiphaga) having only twelve. The genus Globicera 
contains seven species, differing from the rest by the swollen fleshy knob at the 
base of the upper mandible. Passing over a peculiar form (Serresius) from the 
Marquesas, in which the basal half of the bill is covered with a saddle-shaped 
production of the skin of the forehead, we come to the typical genus Carpophaga, 
Fruit-Pigeons. 
