Order C0LUMBIF0RME8 
No. 29. 
Family TREBONIDM. 
MYRISTICIVORA SPILORRHOA. 
NUTMEG PIGEON. 
(Plate 27.) 
Carpophaga SPILORRHOA Gray, P.Z.S., p. 186 (1858), Aru Islands. 
Carpophaga luctuosa Gould (not Temm.), B. Austr., V., PI. 60 (1848) ; Diggles, Handb. B. 
Austr., PL 89 (1877) ; Jardine, Emu, III., p. 181 (1904). 
Myristicivora luctuosa Bonaparte, Consp. Av., IL, p. 37 (1855). 
Carpophaga spilorrhoa Gray, P.Z.S., p. 186 (1858) ; Ramsay, P.L.S., N.S.W., L, p. 372 
(1876) ; id.. Tab. List Austr. B., p. 18 (1888). 
Myristicivora spilochroa Reichenbach, Tauben, p. 183 (1862). 
Myristicivora spilorrhoa Gould, Handb. B. Austr., II., p. 114 (1865) ; Ramsay, P.Z.S., 
p. 115 (1876); id., P.L.S., N.S.W., I.,p. 182 (1876); North, Austr. Mus. Cat., No. 12, 
p. 269 (1898) ; Robinson and Laverock, Ibis, p. 647 (1900) ; North, Rec. Austr. 
Mus., L, p. 116 (1891) ; id., P.L.S., N.S.W. (2), V., p. 880 (1891) ; Salvadori, 
Cat. B. Brit. Mus., XXI., p. 231 (1893) ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. B., p. 668 
(1901) ; Rothschild and Hartert, Nov. ZooL, 1901, p. 117 (see also p. 116); Oates, 
Cat. Birds’ Eggs Brit. Mus., I., p. 86 (1901); Hartert, Nov. ZooL, XII., p. 196 (1905); 
Hall, Key B. Austr., p. 69 (1906) ; Le Souef, Wild Life Austr., pp. 248, 338 (1907) ; 
Cornwall, Emu, VI., p. 138 (1907) ; Mathews, Handl. B. Austral., p. 9 (1908). 
Myristicivora spilorrhm Macleay, P.L.S., N.S.WL, I., p. 37 (1876). 
Myristicivora hicolor Salvadori and D’ Albertis (not Scopoh), Ann. Mus. Civ. Gen., VII., 
p. 832 (1875). 
Distribution. Northern Territory ; Queensland ; also New Guinea. 
Adult male. General colour white ; bastard- wing and primary-coverts black ; primary- 
and secondary-quiUs black, everywhere dusted with grey ; tail white, broadly 
tipped with black, more narrowly on the outer feathers, the outermost margined 
with black down to the base ; the feathers of the lower abdomen, flanks and under 
tail-coverts with submarginal black spots ; quills below^ lead-grey ; “ Bill yellow, 
black at the base ; iris brown, feet slate-colour ” (E. Olive). Total length, 
345 mm. ; culmen, 26 ; wing, 225 ; tail, 120 ; tarsus, 27, 
Adult female. Similar to the male. 
Nest. “ Flat, straight, being merely a few sticks or tvdgs placed crosswise — some are more 
substantial, being built of green branchlets ; usually situated on a horizontal branch 
of any tree, not unfrequently in mangroves overhanging water, and occasionally near 
the ground or on rocks. Sometimes three or four nests are situated in one tree ” 
(Campbell). 
118 
