PLATE IV. 
PTILINOPUS SWAIXSOXI I {Gould). 
SWAINSON S FRUIT-PIG EON. Genus: Ptilinopus. 
IN habit this bird does not differ in any way from other Fruit-eating Pigeons, such as the Flock or Green 
Pigeons. Though solitary, it is fairly plentiful in the thick scrubs of the North of Queensland, and, most 
probably, wherever the Rosella (var. Hibiscus) thrives. In travelling from Cooktown to Palmer River it may 
frequently be seen though seldom, if ever, in company. Oddly, it manifests an especial liking for that large- 
stoned fruit, the quandong (Santalum JPreissianum), which, if swallowed whole, could not possibly be digested. 
Most probably it selects only such as are bursting-ripe, and from which the stone can be easily disengaged. I was 
sorry not to be able to prosecute my researches further, especially respecting the nidification of this bird, but I 
was compelled, so intense was the heat, to seek a cooler district, even at the expense of my observations. 
The prevailing body colour is light green, toned with yellow, merging at tips of wing feathers into deep 
olive bronze, with broad yellow margins ; crown of head, rich deep crimson, fringed with yellow ; breast, bright 
green spangled with silver-grey, which graduates into light crimson, again merging on the abdomen into orange 
red ; irides, dark orange ; bill, olive ; feet, neutral grey. 
The illustration is three-quarter life size. 
PTILINOPUS EWIXGII (Gould). 
E WING'S FRUIT-PIGEON. Genus: Ptilinopus. 
THE habitat of this beautiful bird is confined to the extreme northern coast. In many respects it is similar to 
the preceding (Ptilmopus Swainsonii), and may easily, at a distance, be mistaken for that bird. Frequently 
during the winter months it may be met with, in small groups, on the North Peninsula, and occasionally also on 
the Herbert Ptiver, where, however, it confines itself chiefly to the Calophyllum trees (Or. Clusiacecs), whose 
enormous growth and dense foliage afford a secure asylum for nidification. 
The differences which distinguish it from Swainson's Fruit-Pigeon are its somewhat diminished size ; 
the rose-pink, instead of bright crimson, colouring of the crown of the head, and the pale green-tinted grey of the 
breast in place of dull green ; but the chief and most noticeable distinction is found in the clearly-defined purple- 
bronze crescent upon the breast. 
It lays two faintly speckled eggs in a nest comparatively well formed for a pigeon, and the young ones 
may be seen on the wing about the latter part of December or early in January. 
The crown and fore part of the head are rose-pink, with a border of bright yellow extending as far as 
the bill ; back and front of neck, pale grey ; breast, pale green-tinted grey, each feather serrated and flecked 
with grey ; under body, deep orange-red, dissolving into bright yellow, with a crescent-shaped band immediately 
below the breast, of purple-bronze ; upper part of body, bright green ; lesser wing coverts, olive, with a margin 
of yellow to each feather, developing in secondary and tertiary feathers into burnt sienna, similarly margined; 
tail, green, tipped with yellow ; irides, orange-red ; bill, dark grey ; feet, dark olive. 
The illustration is three-quarter life-size. 
