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Show 522 MR. J. J. LISTER ON THE NATURAL [Dec. 4, 2. The dark metallic colours of the back are not washed with grey. 3. It is a larger bird, the wing measuring 10 inches (against 9f). C. vanwycki is included in Gray's ' Hand-list' in the section of the genus named Globicera, but there is no sign of the tumidity at the base of the bill in it or in C. whartoni. This section includes some ten species which, with the exception of C. myristicivora, which ranges over the whole Indian Archipelago, are confined to the Austro-Malay and the Pacific Islands. CHALCOPHAPS NATALIS, sp. n. Inter C. indicam et C. stephani media; C. indicse similis, sed rostro fortiore, macula pallida alaj minore, femince uropygio, supra- et subcaudalibus fuscis, haud nigris. A C. stephani differt maris fronte albida, et tergo et alls aeneo-viridibus. This is also an abundant species; until the last day of our stay in Flying-Fish Cove I had supposed that this was, unlike the others, a shy bird, as we had only come across it now and then, moving restlessly among the trees. I expect, however, we had really overlooked it. On that morning I had gone ashore to shoot good specimens of the Merula and Zosterops for skinning. On one occasion I stood in one place for about an hour, and during that time I saw three or four pairs of this Pigeon. They were picking up fallen fruits from among the brown and green leaves which were strewn beneath the trees ; and here, where their brown and bronze-green plumage rendered them inconspicuous, they were so tame that the only difficulty I had in shooting them was to get far enough off and yet not lose sight of them among the crowded stems by the trees. Thus their habits appear to be strikingly in accordance with their protective colouring. In the trees, where their colour renders them conspicuous, they are restless and easily alarmed ; while they appear to regard the ground as a place of safety. Their note is, I believe, a cooo-coo-cooo, with hardly any roll of an r sound iu it. This appears to be an intermediate form between C. indica (Linn.) and C. stephani (Homb. & Jacq.). Without giving a full account of it, I may point out that it resembles C. indica \ except in the following points :- 1. The bill is stouter. 2. The white and pale slate streak on the shoulder is smaller. 3. The rump, upper and under tail-coverts of the female are brown, not black. In the last character it agrees with C. stephani, but differs from it in the following points :- 1. The crown of the male is white, not uniform with the rest of the head. 2. The metallic green upper surfaces of the wings are united by a broad band of green across the back. Chalcophaps indica ranges from Ceylon and India as far north as 1 Vide Legge's ' Birds of Ceylon,' p. 714. |
