PTILOPUS WALLACEI. 
Wallace’s Fruit-Pig'eon. 
Ptilonopus wallacei, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, pp. 185, 195, pi. 136. — Id. Cat. B. New Guinea, pp. 45, 60 
(1859). — Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 437. — Reichenb. Columbarise, ii. p. 178 (1862).— Rosenb. 
N. T. Nederl. Ind. xxv. p. 248 (1863). — Wallace, Ibis, 1865, p. 380. — Finscb, Neu-Guinea, p. 177 
(1865). — Pelz. Verb, zool.-bot. Gesellscb. Wien, xxii. p. 430 (1872). 
Philopus wallacei, Rosenb. Reis, naar Zuidostereil, p. 50 (1867). 
Ptilinopus wallacei. Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 227, no. 9154 (1870). 
Ptilopus wallacei, Rosenb. Reis, naar Zuidostereil, p. 81 (1867). — Scblegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Columbse, p. 18 
(1873). — Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, ix. p. 197 (1876). — Elliot, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 555. — 
Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xiv. p. 658 (1879). — Id. Orn. Papuasia, etc. iii. p. 30 (1881). 
This beautiful Pigeon was discovered by Mr. A. R. Wallace In the Aru Islands, where It has also been met with 
by Dr. Beccari and Baron Von Rosenberg, The last-named naturalist has also observed it on the Ke 
Islands, and more recently a fine series has been brought from the Tenimber Islands by Mr. H. O. Forbes. 
We have carefully compared Mr. Forbes’s specimens with the typical Aru-Islands bird and cannot find the 
slightest difference between them. 
This beautiful Pigeon, Mr. Forbes Informs us, is very common in the northern portions of the Tenimber 
group which he visited, frequenting the fig-trees (^Urostigma). Its nature is very tame, and numbers of 
specimens could be easily procured. The native name is “ Wofoen Ratoe.” 
We have described a fine pair of birds collected in the above-named locality by Mr. Forbes. 
Adult male. Crown of head, tapering somewhat to a point on the nape, deep crimson, as well as the lores ; 
feathers behind the eye and ear-coverts, sides of neck, hind neck, and mantle delicate French grey; upper 
back and scapulars mottled, the feathers being delicate French grey, with orange margins ; lesser wing-coverts 
dull orange, forming a shoulder-patch; median coverts French grey, with broad edgings of yellowish olive; 
greater series green, inclining to olive-yellow towards the ends and narrowly margined with yellow ; bastard 
wing, primary-coverts, and quills deep grass-green with a bronzy gloss, the inner webs being blue-black ; 
secondaries more olive than the primaries and edged with yellow, the innermost secondaries olive yellowish 
with grey centres like the greater wing-coverts; remainder of hack yellowish green, with more or less of an 
orange tinge, especially on the upper hack, where there is a patch of dull orange ; upper tail-coverts and 
tall yellowish green, dark green towards the base, the terminal half pale greenish ashy, edged externally with 
yellow and becoming whitish on the inner web ; the ends of the feathers dusky greenish, broader on the centre 
ones; cheeks, throat, and ear-coverts white, with a faint grey shade on the throat, the upper part of the 
ear-coverts rather dusky ; fore neck and chest pale French grey like the sides of the neck, and forming a band 5 
breast deep rich orange, separated from the grey chest by a rather broad band of white slightly sullied with 
grey; abdomen bright yellow; sides of breast, axillaries, and under wing-coverts French grey ; lower flanks 
olive-green ; thighs grey ; under tail-coverts yellow, edged broadly with green ; quills grey, becoming dusky 
towards their ends ; “ bill yellow, but paler on the lower mandible ; legs and feet purple ; iris with golden inner 
ring and outer one of light red ” {H. 0. Forbes). Total length 9 inches, culmen 0'8, wing 5*9, tail 3*2, 
tarsus 0*95. 
The female is like the male, but a trifle duller In colour. 
The figures in the Plate represent a pair of birds, of the size of life; they have been drawn from 
Mr. Forbes’s specimens above described. 
[R. B. S.] 
