138 WHITE'S JOURNAL OF A 
1788. back and wings in general brown; the lower part of the 
back and rump pale blue-green ; the outer edges of the 
quills blue; within and the tips black. On the wing covert 
is a patel of gloffy blue-green : the tail is barred with ferru- 
ginous, and fteel-black, glofled with purple ; the end, for 
one inch, white; the under part of the body is white, tranf- 
verfely flreaked with dufky lines ; legs yellow, claws black. 
This bird is not uncommon in many iflands of the South 
SeaSy being pretty frequent at New Guinea, from whence 
the fpecimen came from which Mr. Latham took his de- 
fcription : it is alfo an inhabitant of New Holland^ from 
whence feveral have been fent over to England, 
We rounded this lagoon, and proceeded four or five 
miles weftward, along the banks of a fmall frefh-water 
river, which emptied itfelf into it, and had for its fource 
only a fwamp, or boggy ground. After we had paffed this 
fwamp, we got into an immenfe wood, the trees of which 
were very high and large, and a confiderable diftance apart, 
with little under or brufh wood. The ground was not very 
good, although it produced a luxuriant coat of a kind of 
four grafs growing in tufts or bullies, which, at fome dif- 
tance, had the appearance of meadow land, and might be 
miftaken 
I 
