CARPOPHAGA SUBFLAVESCENS, Finseh. 
Yellow-tinted White Fruit-Pig'eon. 
Carpophaga suhjlavescem, Finseh, Ibis, 1886, p. 2. 
In the great group of Fruit-Pigeons the lovely white species, of which one is now figured, are some of the 
most prominent, and they have been separated into a distinct genus Myristicimra, which is recognized by 
some of the best authorities. For our own part, we consider them to be true Carpophages in form, though 
of a distinct type of coloration, which may at least be deemed worthy of subgeneric separation. 
The late Professor Schlegel used to rank all the white Fruit-Pigeons as belonging to one single species, 
instead of recognizing thi*ee ; and in 1875 we ourselves came to a similar conclusion, as, altbough we could 
clearly perceive the characters on which C. spUorrhoa and C. melamira had been separated from C. bicolor, 
yet there seemed to be no definite geographical habitat for any of them, and, as species, they appeared to 
range into one another. Count Salvadori, however, has solved the problem. In the Moluccas he restricts 
the range of C. melanura (as far as at present known) to Flalmahera, Bourou, and Little Ke, while C, spUorrhoa 
is found all over New Guinea, the islands of the Bay of Geelvink, and the Aru group. These are resident 
in the above-named localities ; and although C. hicolor, the common Indo-Malayan species, is also found 
in Halmahera, New Guinea, and the Ke and Aru Islands, it is doubtless as a migrant. The present species 
was discovered by Dr. Otto Finseh during his explorations in the Western Pacific. He states that he pro- 
cured a pair in the north-west corner of New Ireland, where, however, it was not common. 
The following Isa description of the typical specimen, which is now in the British Museum : — 
Adult female. General colour above and below white, everywhere strongly tinted with yellow ; region of 
the eye white ; all the wlng-covcrts and the innermost secondaries white, strongly washed with yellow ; 
bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills black, slightly shaded externally with grey ; upper tail-coverts and 
basal half of tail white tinged with yellow, the terminal half of the tail black, which decreases in extent 
towards the outermost feathers ; under tail-covcrts white, very strongly tinged with yellow, and having a 
broad black band at the end of each feather ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white washed with yellow : 
“iris dark brown; bill greenish, with the tips yellow; feet plumbeous ” (0. Finscli). Total length 14 
inches, culmen 1*2, wing 9*0, tail 4*7, tarsus 1*35. 
The figure in the Plate represents an adult bird of the size of life. 
[R. B. S.] 
