163 



ALECTROENAS NITIDISSIMA (SC op.) 



(Plate 22.) 



Pigeon hollandais Sonnerat, Voy. Ind. Orient. II, p. 175, pi. 101 (1782). 

 Hackled Pigeon Latham, Syn. B. II, 2, p. 641, No. 36 (1783). 



Colnmba nitidissima Scopoli, Del. Flor. and Faun. Insubr. II, p. 93, No. 89 (1786) (ex 

 Sonnerat). 



Columba franciae Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 2, p. 779, No. 51 (1788). (ex Sonnerat). 



Columba botanica Bonnaterre, Enc. Meth. I, p. 233 (1790). 



Ramier p&risse Levaillant, Ois. d'Afr. VI, p. 74, pi. 267 (1808). 



Columba jitbata Wagler, Syst. Av., Columba, sp. 22 (1827). 



Alectroenas nitidissima G. R. Gray, List Gen. B., p. 58 (1840). 



Alectroenas franciae Reichenbach, Syn. Av., Cohcmbariae, p. 2, f. 1302 (1847). 



Columbigallus franciae Des Murs, Encycl. d'Hist. Nat., Ois. VI., p. 31, (1854 



Ptilopus nitidissimus Schlegel and Pollen, Rech. Faun. Madag., p. 159 (1868). 



Alectroenas nitidissimus G. R. Gray, Hand-list II, p. 228, No. 9164 (1870). 



Alectoroenas nitidissimus A. Newton, P. Z. S. 1879, pp. 2-4. 



ONNERAT'S original description, translated into English, is as follows: 



" It is much larger than the European Woodpigeon ; the feathers of 

 the head, neck and breast are long, narrow, and end in a point. 

 These feathers are rather curiously constructed, they have the polish, 

 brilliancy, and feel of a cartilaginous blade. I could not, with the aid of a 

 lens, distinguish whether these blades were formed by the conglomeration 

 of the barbules, but we may take it for granted that they are constituted 

 in a like manner to the wing appendages of the Bohemian Waxwing and the 

 cartilaginous blades of Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl. The eye is surrounded 

 by naked skin of a deep red ; the back, the wings and the belly are of 

 a dark blue ; the rump and tail are of a very bright carmine red ; the beak 

 and iris are of the same colour, and the feet are black." 



Undoubtedly quite extinct. Only three specimens are known of this 

 bird : one in Edinburgh, one in Paris, and one in Mauritius. Some bones 

 were collected by the Rev. H. H. Slater. 

 Habitat : Mauritius. 



