278 COLUMBIDiE. 



the back, wings, and two middle tail-feathers green ; the lower 

 breast green -black} the belly in the middle and flanks ashy- 

 green ; the vent yellow ; the lateral tail-feathers green, with 

 the tips cinereous. 

 Columba porphyrea. Reinxv. Temm. PI. Col. 106. 



Inhabits the Isles of Simda and the Moluccas. 

 Length about a foot : the adult has all the head, the 

 neck, and the breast of a bright purple, palest in the 

 head, and deepest and tinged with lake on the lower 

 part of the neck : the breast bears a large white 

 collar ; and a narrow bar of rose-colour separates 

 the purple of the nape from the colour of the back, 

 which is green : the breast beneath the collar is black, 

 more or less tinged with greenish : the middle of the 

 belly and the flanks are cinereous, more or less tinted 

 with green or yellowish, according to age : part of 

 the abdomen is yellow : the under tail-coverts are 

 green in the inside with yellow edges : the wings and 

 middle tail-feathers are deep-green : the lateral tail- 

 feathers are bottle-green, with greenish-grey tips : 

 the beak is yellowish at the tip : the toes are red. 

 The young have the head, neck, breast, and all the 

 Tapper parts deep-green : the feathers of the back and 

 of the wings are of a deeper hue than in the adult, 

 and are tipped with a yellow-lunule : the abdomen 

 is a clear greenish-yellow : the white collar on the 

 breast and the black plumes are wanting. During 

 moulting the individuals are more or less varied with 

 purple and green feathers ; and the beautiful rose- 

 coloured circle at the top of the back and the white 

 collar on the breast are most evident in the oldest 

 birds. 



