Order COLUMBIFORMES 
No. 34. 
Family COLUMBIDJE. 
GEOPELIA PLACIDA. 
GROUND DOVE. 
(Plate 32.) 
Geopelia PLACIDA Gould, P.Z.S., p. 55 (1844), Port Essington, Northern Territory. 
Geopelia placida Gould, P.Z.S., p. 55 (1844) ; Bonaparte, Consp. Av., II., p. 95 (1854) ; 
Gould, Handb. B. Austr., II., p. 145 (1865) ; Ramsay, P.L.S., N.S.W., I., p. 184 (1876) ; 
id.. Tab. List Austr. B., p. 18 (1888) ; Hartert, Nov. Zool., XII., p. 196 (1905) ; 
Mathews, Handl. B. Austral., p. 10 (1908). 
Geopelia tranquilla Gould, P.Z.S., p. 56 (1844) (Liverpool Plains, New South Wales) ; id., 
B. Austr., V., PI. 73 (1848) ; Sturt, Narr. Exp. Centr. Austr., App., p. 45 (1849) ; 
Bonaparte, Consp. Av., p. 94 (1854) ; Gould, Handb. B. Austr., II., p. 144 (1865) ; 
Ramsay, P.Z.S., p. 387 (1868) ; Higgles, Handb. B. Austr., PI. 92 (1877) ; 
Forbes, P.Z.S., p. 126 (1878) ; Ramsay, P.L.S., N.S.W., VII., p. 54 (1882) ; id.. 
Tab. List Austr. B., p. 18 (1888) ; North, Austr. Mus. Cat., No. 12, p. 278 (1889) ; 
Salvador!, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., XXI., p. 456 (1893) ; North, B. County Cumberland, 
p. 106 (1898) ; Campbell, Nests and Eggs Austr. B., p. 676 (1901) ; HaU, Emu, II., 
p. 61 (1902) ; Le Souef, Emu, II., p. 154 (1903) ; Hall, Key B. Austr., p. 71 (1906) ; 
Berney, Emu, VI., p. 46 (1906) ; Ingram, Ibis, p. 390 (1907). 
Histribution. Australia generally. 
Adult male (New South Wales). Upper-surface barred everywhere with black, white and 
grey ; forehead and throat pale blue-grey ; hinder crown and nape earth-brown, 
narrowly barred with blackish ; neck aU round narrowly barred with black and white, 
each feather having two black bars and three white ones ; the hind-neck darker and 
more like the back ; entire back and wings earth-brown, barred with black, paler 
on the outer coverts ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts blackish ; quills brown, 
paler on the outer edges and on the inner webs towards the base ; innermost 
secondaries Hke the back ; middle tail-feathers grey, the next two pairs blackish- 
brown ; the outer feathers for the most part black, tipped with white ; the outermost 
black, margined on the outer web, and broadly tipped with white ; breast and sides 
of body with a pinkish tinge ; abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; axillaries and 
under wing-coverts deep chestnut ; a patch of white at the base of the secondary-quiUs 
below ; quills below, brown, inner webs inclining to rufous. Bill black, base bluish- 
black ; iris white ; bare space round the eyes bluish-green ; tarsi and feet flesh- 
colour. Total length, 210 mm. ; culmen, 15 ; wing, 104 ; tail, 88 ; tarsus, 17. 
Adult female. Similar in every respect to the adult male both in the colour of its plumage 
and in measurements. 
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