Head furnished with a lengthened occipital crest; wings rather short, the third primary gradually narrowed to a point; tail rather long and much rounded; tarsi as long as the middle toe; the inner toe shorter than the outer.
A genus consisting of a single species whose natural habitat is the basin of the interior of Australia, over the vast expanse of which its long pointed wings enable it to pass at pleasure from one district to another whenever a scarcity of food prompts it so to do: although mainly terrestrial in its habits, it is more frequently seen on the trees than the members of the genus Phaps; its food consists of small seeds and berries.
| 432. Ocyphaps Lophotes | [Vol. V. ] Pl. 70. |
Genus Petrophassa, Gould.
Generic characters.
As in Ocyphaps, but with the wings shorter, more rounded and destitute of the bronzy lustre; and with a more rounded tail.
So little is known respecting the single species of this Australian genus that I am unable to say more than that it inhabits rocky situations near the sea-coast.
| 433. Petrophassa albipennis, Gould | [Vol. V. ] Pl. 71. |
Genus Geopelia, Swains.
A form of Ground Doves very generally distributed over the Indian Islands and Australia, and of which three or four species are peculiar to the latter country; grassy hills, flats and extensive plains are the situations these birds affect, consequently in Australia they are almost exclusively confined to the interior; they pass over the ground in a quiet and peaceful manner; and when disturbed fly to some neighbouring tree, descend again almost immediately and search about for the minute seeds of annuals and other plants, upon which they principally subsist.