GEOPELIA HUMERALIS. 
Barred-shouldered Ground-Dove. 
Columba humeralis, Temm. PL Col. 191. 
Mangrove Pigeon, I’esident at Port Essington. 
There are reasons for believing’ that the Geopelia humeralis inhabits the whole of the vast interior of 
Australia as well as the neighbourhood of the eoasts of its northern and eastern portions. In New 
South Wales it is sparingly dispersed over the Liverpool Plains, where some of the specimens I possess 
were obtained, while others were procured at Port Essington. As the structure of its legs would indicate, 
it passes much of its time on the ground, feeding on the seeds of various kinds of grasses and leguminous 
plants. Not only is it one of the most elegant of the Dove tribe inhabiting Axistralia, but it is also one of 
the most tame and docile, if I may judge from the few I observed on the heated plains of New South Wales : 
their confidence was such that they sometimes perched within two yards of the spot where I was sitting ; 
extreme thirst and a scanty supply of water may, however, have rendered them more tame and bold than 
they otherwise would have been. 
Mr. Gilbert states that at Port Essington “ this Pigeon is extremely abundant, inhabiting thickets, 
swampy grounds, and the banks of running streams. It mostly feeds on the seeds of various kinds of 
grasses, but when the country becomes burnt it finds an abundant supply of berries in the thickets. 
It may often be seen among the mangroves in flocks of several hundreds, and hence its colonial name 
of Mangrove Pigeon. It was equally numerous during the whole period of my stay in that part of the 
country. Any number of specimens may be readily procured, for when disturbed the bird merely flits from 
branch to branch, or if in an open part of the country to the nearest tree. I did not on any occasion observe 
it take anything approaching a sustained flight. Its most common note is a rather loud coo-coo, occasionally 
uttered at long intervals ; during the pairing-season the note becomes of a softer tone, and is more rapidly 
repeated, and its actions very much resemble those of the Domestic Pigeon of Europe. It breeds in 
August, and makes a very slight nest of slender twigs, loosely and carelessly laid across each other on two 
or three of the lower leaves of the Pandanus, the upper leaves of which afford it a shelter from the rays of 
the sun, and from the rain ; the eggs are two in number of a delicate fleshy-white.” 
The sexes are alike in colouring. 
Forehead, cheeks, sides of the neck and breast delicate grey ; occiput, back, wing-coverts, rump and 
upper tail-coverts silky brown ; back of the neck rufous, every feather of the upper surface hounded at the 
extremity with a narrow band of black, giving the whole a squamated or scaled appearance ; under surface 
of the shoulder and the inner webs, except their tips, of the primaries and secondaries fine rust-red ; outer 
webs and tips of the inner webs of the primaries and secondaries brown ; two centre tail-feathers dark grey, 
the remainder reddish brown at the base, gradually increasing in intensity towards their tips, those next the 
centre ones washed with grey on their outer webs, and all but the centre ones largely tipped with white ; 
centre of the abdomen white ; the remainder of the under surface washed with vinous ; irides ochre-yellow; 
bill and nostrils delicate mealy light blue ; naked skin round the eye mealy purple ; legs and feet pink red. 
The Plate represents a male and female of the natural size. 
