117 
OCEANIC FEUIT-PIGEON. 
Carpophaga oceanica. 
PLATE VII. 
Columba oceanica, Lesson, Voyage de la CoquUle, pi. 41. — 
Id. Man. d'Ornilh. v. ii. p. IG6. 
The metallic splendour of the dorsal plumage of 
this beautiful bird, is only equalled by that of another 
species, viz. the Nutmeg Pigeon, or Columba csnea 
of Latham, to which it bears a marked resemblance, 
and that not confined to a similar effect or play of 
colour, but to a peculiarity of form observable in the 
bills of both species. This consists of an excrescence 
or globular knob, which has its origin upon the basal 
part of the upper mandible, and which in the present 
species attains the size of a small cherry, but in the 
mnea is not so large, and scarcely so globular in shape. 
From the observations that have been made upon 
these birds, it appears that this excrescence, common 
to many of the group, is not, a permanent feature, 
but, like that which we see in the sheldrake, is only 
developed during the season of reproduction, the 
base of the bill at other times scarcely exhibiting any 
indication of the swelling.* The great similarity in 
• As bearing more particularly upon this subject, we quote 
the following passage from Du Pay’s Voyage de la Coquille, 
