THE



225



Hvtcultural fllbagastne,


BEING THE JOURNAL OF THE


AVICULTURAL SOCIETY.



New Series —VOL. VII. —No. 8 .—All rights reserved. JUNE, 1909.


BARTLETT’S BLEEDING-HEART PIGEON.


Phlogccnas crinigera.


By T. H. Newman.


Probably no member of the great and beautiful order

Columbse attracts so much attention from the general public as

the common Bleeding-heart Pigeon, Phlogcenas luzonica, which

is certainly a startlingly beautiful bird, giving the impression of

having recently come out of a sanguinary battle, in which it has

apparently come off second best. But what shall be said of the

larger and far richer coloured subject of these notes? A glance

at Mr. Gronvold’s very careful and exact drawing will show the

distribution of the colours, though no artificial process can re¬

produce the exquisite sheen of the living bird. It must certainly

be reckoned one of the most harmoniously coloured birds in the

world.


It differs from its near ally by its larger size, the bars on

the wing are practically the same; in the common species the

general appearance is of a bird with an ashy grey upper surface

more or less tinged with green or pink according to the light;

in crinigera the top of the head, back of neck and mantle are of a

most beautiful green, glowing emerald-like in the sun ; the back,

scapulars, rump, upper tail-coverts and central tail feathers are

rich purple chestnut, the smaller feathers edged with metallic

green or pink according to the angle seen; the chin and throat

are pure white, which descends in a narrow line down each side

of the breast, dividing the green of the sides of the neck from

the beautiful large crimson maroon patch on the breast: this

patch, the £ heart,’ is much larger than in the common species,



