PIGEON. 



33 



rufous brown, but the hind part of the head has a tinge of purple; 

 wing coverts fine blue grey, marked on each with a rich glossy spot 

 on the outer web, of a gilded hue, changing into copper ; the second 

 quills green, edged with grey, and have a resplendent gloss of metal ; 

 bastard wing glossy green ; prime quills and tail the colour of the 

 back, but the feathers of the latter are at the ends blue grey ; the 

 tail is two inches and a half long, rounded at the end, and the quills 

 reach only to the base ; legs fine red, claws black. 



This was brought from Malacca, and is a most beautiful bird ; 

 in some things it coincides with the last described, but we think it to 

 be a different species; for, had it no other distinction, the comparison 

 of the length of the quills with that of the tail would be one ; as in 

 the present bird they reach no farther than the base, but in the Bronze 

 winged to full half of the length ; the tail, too, in the latter is shorter 

 in proportion. This is well represented among the faithful drawings 

 in the collection of General Hardwicke. 



30.— OPALINE PIGEON. 



Columba elegans, Colombe Labrador, Temm. Pig.fol. pi. 22. Id. 8vo. i. p. 240. 



LENGTH eleven inches. Bill dusky ; crown, fore part of the 

 neck, breast, and under parts pale grey, with a rufous tinge on the 

 front ; behind the eye a narrow streak of fine rufous chocolate, 

 passing backwards to the nape, and hind part of the neck, which 

 are of the same colour ; on the throat a triangular patch of the same ; 

 back and wings olive brown ; across the latter two bands of most 

 brilliant patches of feathers, imitating the opal and ruby, in different 

 lights, or in the manner of the Labrador Spar ; the ends of these 

 feathers are silver grey, the rest blue grey, with brown ends, within 

 rufous; tail grey, with a band of black, three-fourths from the base, 

 the end brown ; legs red. 



Inhabits Van Diemen's Land. This has only fourteen feathers 

 in the tail, whereas the Bronze-winged has eighteen. 



VOL. VIII. F 



