COLOMBA PURPURATA. 



the first quill suddenly emarginating at the extremity. The present is 

 the only one of the group we have had an opportunity of examining, and 

 on that account we provisionally retain it in its old situation. Our speci- 

 men agrees very nearly with that described by Mr Swain son in the Zoolo- 

 gical Journal, except in the tarsi in front being bare for nearly a quarter 

 of an inch above the division of the toes ; on the sides the feathers reach 

 a little farther. 



The length is fully nine inches ; the crown of the head deep crimson- 

 red, surrounded by a yellow band, commencing at the corners of the 

 mouth ; the upper parts are rich yellowish-green ; the quills with a very 

 narrow edging of pale straw-yellow ; the secondaries with a broader edg- 

 ing of gamboge-yellow. The tail is tipped with yellow, having the green 

 immediately above the band of a darker shade ; this with the wings in 

 some lights appear tinged bronze. The throat is pale straw-yellow ; the 

 neck, breast, and upper part of the belly, are pale greenish-grey, the fea- 

 thers on the breast having the form of that represented on the plate. 

 Cross the lower part of the belly, immediately above the thighs, there is 

 a band of rich orange-yellow, changing to crimson-red on the centre, and 

 passing into pale gamboge-yellow over the vent and under the tail-coverts. 

 The thighs and two-thirds of the tarsi are covered with pale green fea- 

 thers ; the feet and naked part of the tarsi appear to have been greenish- 

 yellow. 



The specimen figured is from New Holland, and was obligingly fur- 

 nished to us by Mr Ross, gunmaker, Edinburgh. 



The figures on the plate represent the shapes of the first quill, and fea- 

 thers upon the breast. 



