R A S R E S. 



267 



Of the present bird one specimen in the collection of the Philadel- 

 phia Academy is labelled as coming from the Island of Amboina. 

 Others are without labels. A single specimen, in excellent plumage 

 and preservation, in the collection of the Expedition, and represented 

 in our plate, is from the Sooloo Islands. 



Mr. Peale's account of this bird is as follows: 



" This chaste and beautiful Pigeon was seen in large flocks near the 

 town of Soung, the capital of the Sooloo Islands. The specimen from 

 which our drawing was made, was killed on an island nearly opposite 

 to Soung, where we found them, during the heat of the day, sitting 

 quietly amongst the dense foliage of large trees bearing a fruit having 

 the appearance of olives, but smaller. With this fruit their crops 

 were filled, and the birds were in excellent condition. Their voice is 

 a tremulous and continued coo ; their flight rapid and dodging, like 

 the domestic pigeons." 



This species belongs to the group to which Reichenbach has given 

 the generic name Myristicicora, adopted in Bonaparte's Monograph 

 (Consp. Av. II, p. 36). The regarding of this bird as identical with 

 C. luctuosa, is an error into which that distinguished author has fallen 

 with others, on account of the obscurity of Scopoli's description and 

 citations of plates above alluded to, and his synonyms are conse- 

 quently erroneous. We may also take the liberty of saying that all 

 the citations of plates of the Atlas to Mr. Peale's volume, given in 

 Consp. Av., vol. II, are also erroneous, because such Atlas never was 

 published, nor were many of the plates engraved, until during the 

 preparation of the present volume. The Prince Bonaparte cites the 

 plates without having seen them, as given in Mr. Peale's text. This 

 bird is assuredly not that represented either in " Knip. Pig. II, t. 40," 

 nor "Gould, Austr. V, t. 60," but is, notwithstanding, we think, the true 

 Columha hicolor, Scopoli. 



Our figure of this species is about three-fourths of the size of life, 

 and represents the adult male. 



7. Carpophaga Pickeringii, Cassin. 



Carpoj)linfia Picheringii, Cassin, Proc. Acad. Philada. VII, p. 228 (1854). 

 Carpophaga chalyhura, BoNAPARTE, Comptes Rendus, 1854, p. 1074? 



Atlas, Ornithology, Plate XXVII. Adult. 



