PLATE I. 
MACROPYGIA PHASIANELLA (Gould). 
LARGE- or PHEASANT-TAILED PIGEON. Genus : Macropygia. 
THE solitary representative of this genus found in Australia is to be met with plentifully upon the 
Richmond and Tweed Rivers, among the prevailing dense brushes, in which it specially delights. In its 
feeding and perching habits, it displays all the characteristics of the Gouridce or Ground-feeding Pigeons, 
selecting such seeds as fall from the Cape-gooseberry (Phy salts edulis) and the ink-berry (Phytolacca decandra). 
In flight it is noisy and comparatively slow, and, as may be presumed from its lengthened tarsi, spends 
most of its time upon the ground. When disturbed it evinces little fear, contenting itself in seeking some 
neighbouring low tree, where it becomes an easy prey to the sportsman. The finely-marked, broad-spreading 
tail, which it fully displays upon alighting, gives an exaggerated notion of its size, which, however, is small. 
As food, the flesh is coarse and insipid, and not regarded with favor. 
I have not found its nest, and so cannot speak as to its habits of nidification, though I have gleaned from 
timber- cutters that it builds in August, generally in low bushy trees close to the boundary of the scrub. 
It is of solitary habit, and, however plentifully it may exist in any locality, it is a rare occurrence to see more 
than one or two birds at a time, and then usually upon the banks of a stream or on the confines of the brush. 
Its coo is loud, plaintive, and easily distinguishable. 
The prevailing color of the plumage is a rich red-brown, deepening into bronze-purple on the breast ; 
wing coverts, deep warm brown ; exterior tail feathers, rich brown, barred with a broad band of black at 
extremities ; irides, blue ; bill, dark olive ; feet, rose-pink. 
The sexes present no difference in color ; the female is slightly smaller, but externally so similar to 
the male as to almost defy detection. 
The illustration is two- thirds life-size. 
MEGALOPREPIA MAGKEFICA (Rewhmbach). 
MAGNIFICENT FRUIT-PIGEON. Genus: Megaloprepia. 
THE varied and resplendent beauty of this bird's plumage fully entitles it to the special appellation of 
" magnificent," for, of all the Pigeon family found in Australia, it is certainly one of the most splendid 
representatives. 
It is usually a timorous, retiring bird, frequenting the inmost recesses of the brushes which extend 
along the coast from the Cardwell district in Northern Queensland to the extreme south-east of New South 
Wales, and feeding largely upon the wild-fig and nut palm, so plentifully found therein. But in the 
summer, when the white cedar (Melia Australis) is in full-bearing, every other food is discarded for the 
sweet-flavored drupe which this deciduous tree yields, and so seductive is this fruit that, not only will 
this ordinarily shy bird leave its customary, secure haunts for the more open district where the cedar flourishes, 
but will become positively indifferent to all intrusion, and recklessly expose itself to wholesale destruction. At this 
season it is so highly esteemed, on account of the peculiarly agreeable flavor imparted to its flesh by the 
cedar-fruit, that its total extinction is imminent, unless some more strict interpretation of the close -season law 
be enforced than at present obtains. 
It breeds early in the season, in the most inaccessible parts of the brush, where its presence is alone 
evinced by the extraordinary hoarse, booming coo, which the male incessantly utters during the pairing time. 
The plumage is alike in both sexes, the female being a rather smaller bird. The back and wings are a 
bright green, merging into a deep lustrous bronze at the tail and extremities ; head and neck, light grey ; centre of 
throat, breast, and belly, warm golden purple ; irregular yellow markings across the wings ; under-feathers of 
thighs and vent, orange yellow ; irides, orange ; bill, yellow ; feet, grey. 
The illustration is two-thirds life-size. 
