276 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



the last ; the wing-coverts are more ashy, and not so brown ; the light 

 color of the neck and lower parts is more pure, and the orange spot is 

 not so much diffused on the breast; besides which, the tertiary feathers 

 are bronze-green, with yellow margins, and not ash-colored, with a 

 bronze spot ; otherwise, these two were alike in sex, measurement, 

 color of the bill, feet, irides, &c. It was obtained at the village of 

 Mathuata, in the Feejee Islands, where we observed that they inha- 

 bited the mountain gorges, and were not abundant. Fig. 3 was obtained 

 with the last; it is a trifle less, and it is believed to be a younger bird, 

 showing that in their first plumage, they are entirely green ; the 

 feathers margined with yellow. It also was a male. 



" La Perouse, in the journal of his melancholy voyage, notices beau- 

 tiful Doves, of various colors, when at the Navigator's Islands, in the 

 same harbor where our first specimens were obtained, probably alluding 

 to this very species to which we apply his name. The native name, 

 Manu-ma, means shame, or modest bird." 



This is one of the most delicately colored and gracefully formed of 

 the entire family of Pigeons, and is rather an unusual instance of the 

 same species being found to inhabit different groups of islands. It is, 

 perhaps, the most beautiful bird discovered in the course of the voyage 

 of the Expedition, and is a highly interesting addition to the ornitho- 

 logical fauna of the Pacific Islands, in which the birds of this family 

 hold a conspicuous position. 



The figures in our plate of this bird are of the natural size. 



4. Genus GALENAS, G. R. Gray, List of the Genera of Birds, p. 59 (1840). 

 1. Cal^enas nicobarica [Linn.). 



Columha nicobarica, LiNN. Syst. Nat. I, p. 283 (1766). 

 Columha gallus, Wagler, Syst. Av. p. (not paged, 1827). 



Edward's Birds, VII, Plate CCCXXXIX ; Buff". PL Enl. 491; Knip 

 & Prevost, Pigeons, I, pt. II, Plate II. 



Of this, the most splendid of the Pigeons, and scarcely excelled in 

 any other family of birds, several fine specimens are in the collection 

 of the Expedition. They are all from the Philippine Islands, and 

 present no characters other than have been given by authors. 



