Head and neck pale grey; all the upper surface and wings rich golden green; the greater coverts and the tertiaries with a patch of light yellow near the base of the outer webs, forming an irregular oblique band across the wing; primaries green; under surface of the wing brown, passing into cinnamon-brown at the base of the feathers; tail rich deep bronzy green; line down the centre of the throat, and the whole of the breast and abdomen rich deep purple; under surface of the shoulder, the thighs and vent deep gamboge-yellow; under tail-coverts greenish grey, washed with gamboge-yellow.
The Plate represents an adult male somewhat less than the natural size.
CARPOPHAGA LEUCOMELA.
J. Gould and H.C. Richter del et lith. C. Hullmandel Imp.
CARPOPHAGA LEUCOMELA.
White-headed Fruit Pigeon.
Columba leucomela, Temm. in Trans. Linn. Soc., vol. xiii. p. 126.—Ib. Pl. Col., 186.
Columba leucomelana, Wagl. Syst. Av., pars i. Columba, sp. 56.
Columba Norfolciensis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Supp., p. lx.?
Norfolk Pigeon, Lath. Gen. Syn. Supp., vol. ii. Add. p. 374?—Ib. Gen. Hist., vol. viii. p. 30?
This fine species of Pigeon is an inhabitant of those vast primæval forests of New South Wales to which the colonists have applied the name of Brushes. I found it very numerous on Mosquito and the other low islands near the mouth of the river Hunter, as well as in the cedar brushes of the Liverpool range; I believe that it breeds in both those districts; and that it never quits these luxuriant forests is the more probable, as a plentiful supply of fruits and berries is furnished by the various species of trees at every season of the year; the wild fig, the palm-nut and the grape, constitute a considerable portion of its food. I have frequently observed it sweeping over the forests in flocks of from ten to fifty in number, and often seen it also in pairs. It feeds on the wild fig, whose slender branches are borne down by its weight, particularly when it clings to the extreme end of the spray to obtain the best and ripest fruit; in this mode of clinging and in many of its actions it far more resembles the larger Honey-eaters and Parrots than the Pigeons; an examination moreover of the structure of the foot of a typical Carpophaga will show that it deviates from that of the true Pigeons, and that it is beautifully adapted for the duties it is intended to perform. I have never seen this bird on the ground, not even to procure water, and the form of its foot is as little adapted for terrestrial progression, as it is admirably constructed for use among the smaller branches of the trees.