PURPLE-CROWNED FRUIT-PIGEON. 
Eggs. “ Clutch, one usually [sometimes two] ; elliptical in form ; texture of shell, some- 
what fine, excepting the smaller end, which is slightly granular ; surface glossy ; 
colour, white ; shghtly toned or of a faint creamy tint. Dimensions in inches, 
1.22 to 1.15 by .88 to .85 ” (Campbell). 
Breeding season. October to February (Ramsay). 
Mr. Broadbent* says : “ The Superb Fruit-Pigeon unlike Ptilinopus regina 
does not travel far south of Cardwell, but remains there in large numbers, from 
September to March. During the rest of the year is comparatively scarce. At 
the Cape it is tolerably abundant for a short period — a month or so about 
March — and then disappears altogether, for none winter at Cape York. The note 
is very gruff, resembhng the sound ‘ whoot ’ uttered at short intervals, and may 
be heard at a considerable distance from the spot of its emission. The bird is 
arboreal, like the Red-crowned Fruit-Pigeon, whose fruit-eating habits it also 
follows. Being very shy, it is rarely found outside the scrubs. The nest is 
made in a small bush, and constructed loosely of a few sticks, which just serve 
to retain the eggs when laid. The usual clutch consists of two eggs, which are 
generally visible to an observer from the ground.” 
Dr. Ramsay t observes : “I found this, one of our most beautiful species, 
tolerably abundant in all the scrub-lands of the Herbert River and coast range. 
Its note is a broken ‘ coo,’ prolonged into a rolling guttural sound at the end, 
and may be heard at least half-a-mile off. But, owing to the dense nature 
of the scrubs, the birds are at all times difficult to obtain, although not rare.” 
Mr. Le Souef J remarks : “ When camped on the banks of the Annan River, 
in the ranges, we found the beautiful Purple-crowned Fruit-Pigeon nesting. 
It is a wonder that the egg does not fall out of the nest, composed as it is of 
so few sticks. When a bird flew off the nest, I always half expected the egg 
to fall, but it did not. If I wished to procure an egg in a nest at the end of 
a thin bough, a native would climb up the tree with a long light stick. He 
then carefully pushed one egg at a time out of the nest and I caught them 
safely in my hat as they fell. None were broken by this means, although the 
height was sometimes considerable. Their nests were always situated in some 
thick-leaved tree. They were built near the ends of the branches, nearly hidden in 
the foHage. In every case it was the male bird that was sitting on the nest” 
If the Australian bird should be separable from the one inhabiting the islands 
to the north of Australia, on account of the different colour of the band on the 
breast and the lighter red on the mantle, the Australian form must be called 
Ptilinopus poryphyrostictus (Gould). 
The male bird figured and described was collected at Cairns and the female 
at Cape York. 
* In Campbell’s Nests and Eggs Austr. B., p. 665 (1901). 
t P.Z.S., p. 114 (1876). 
t Wild Life in Austr., pp. 281, 361 (1907). 
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