So far as known the species is confined to the highlands of Mindoro at an elevation of between 1,200 and 1,800 meters.
Genus MYRISTICIVORA Reichenbach, 1852.
Inner webs of first and second primaries very slightly attenuated; tarsus feathered in front for half its length. This genus is remarkable for its coloration; parts of the wings and tail, slate or black, the rest of the plumage pale creamy white.
42. MYRISTICIVORA BICOLOR (Scopoli).
NUTMEG PIGEON.
- Columba bicolor Scopoli, Del Flor. et Faun. Insubr. (1786), 2, 94.
- Carpophaga bicolor Cassin, Ornith. Wilkes Exped. (1858), 265, pl. 28.
- Myristicivora bicolor Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 21, 227; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 67; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1901), 1, 86; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 12.
Ca-má-su, bá-lud blan′-co, in general use.
Balabac (Steere, Everett); Bantayan (McGregor); Bongao (Everett); Cresta de Gallo (McGregor); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Malanipa (Murray); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Everett, Koch & Schadenberg); Mindoro (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor, Porter); Negros (Meyer, Steere Exp.); Nipa (Everett); Palawan (Bourns & Worcester, White); Sakuijok (Everett); Sibay (McGregor & Worcester); Siquijor (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor); West Bolod (Mearns). Siam, Cochin-China, Malay Peninsula, Tenimber and Indo-Malayan Islands, Andamans, Nicobars, and Moluccas.
Adult (sexes alike).—General color pale creamy white; head and sides of head more or less ochraceous-yellow; wing-coverts and edge of wing white; alula, primary-coverts, primaries, and most of the secondaries black; outer web of longer primaries mealy; basal half, or more, of rectrices and under tail-coverts light yellow, the coverts in some specimens spotted with black; end of tail marked with a wide black band which is widest on middle rectrices. Iris dark brown; bill dull blue with a black tip; eyelids, legs, and feet dark blue; nails black. Length, about 380; a male from Ticao measures: Wing, 229; tail, 127; culmen from base, 25; tarsus, 27; a female from Cresta de Gallo, wing, 229; tail, 127; culmen from base, 24; tarsus, 29.
The camaso, or balud blanco, being a very conspicuous bird, is well known to both natives and Spaniards and can not be mistaken for any other species of Philippine pigeon. The species is irregular in distribution; it is often abundant on a small island and rare, or entirely wanting, on a larger neighboring island. Worcester and Bourns found it especially abundant in Siquijor. No specimens were taken by Whitehead and it is unrecorded from Luzon, although there seems to be no reason why it should be absent from that island.