Pigeons of the Malay Archipelago. 369 



ever, is characterized by the shorter tail, the bare orbits, and the 

 black colour of the plumage. Three species only are known, 

 which are widely scattered over the A ustro- Malayan subregion, 

 though each species is very local — one being confined to Celebes, 

 another to Timor, and the third to the Solomon Islands. In the 

 Moluccas, which occupy the space between the widely scattered 

 localities of Turacoena, is found the single species of Reinward- 

 tcena, which has a much stronger bill and longer tail, and has 

 the whole under surface white, while the back is rich brown. 

 The presence of these birds, so closely allied to Macropygia, in 

 the Austro-Malayan subregion only, would lead us to suppose 

 that this peculiar form of Pigeon is really most characteristic of 

 that district, and that the preponderance of the species of 

 Macropygia in Java is only due to some favourable local con- 

 ditions. The beautiful metallic Pigeons forming the genus 

 lanthcenas, and which seem to form a transition from the 

 Macropygiine form to that of the true Pigeons, are found also 

 in the Moluccas, New Guinea, and Timor, extending to the 

 Pacific islands, and one species to Japan. The old-world genus 

 Turtur has a few representative species in the Indo-Malay 

 islands, but does not properly extend to the Australian region, 

 as only stragglers have reached Timor along the chain of 

 islands from Java, and those found in the Moluccas may 

 perhaps have been introduced, as they have not extended to the 

 easternmost islands or to New Guinea. 



The Gourida, or Ground-Pigeons, seem especially to abound 

 in the Australian and American regions. Of the seven genera 

 found in the Archipelago only two extend on to the continent 

 of Asia (one species of each), while five are confined to the 

 Austro-Malayan subregion and three to New Guinea, and 

 several other peculiar genera inhabit Australia and the Pacific 

 islands. Of the seventeen or eighteen species in the Archipelago 

 no less than fourteen inhabit the Austro-Malayan subregion, 

 and seven are found in New Guinea itself, although so little is 

 yet known of that great island. Some of these are among the 

 most remarkable of Pigeons. Trugon terrestris, by its stout 

 hooked bill and strong legs, shows some approach to the won- 

 derful Didunculus, the existing representative of the Dodo. 



