51. PHLEGŒNAS LUZONICA (Scopoli).
LUZON PUÑALADA.
- Columba luzonica Scopoli, Del Flor. et Faun. Insubr. (1786), 94.
- Phlogœnas luzonica Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 21, 585; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 88; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 15.
Pu-ña-lá-da, Manila and generally.
Luzon (Meyer, Everett, Heriot, Steere Exp., Whitehead, McGregor, Celestino).
Adult (sexes similar).—Top of head, from base of bill to hind border of eye, gray; rest of upper parts dark brown, each feather, except rectrices and their coverts, edged with metallic green or purple, according to the light; the edging wider on interscapulars; sides of neck similar to back; chin, throat, and sides of face below eyes pure white; a patch of blood-red on the stiffish feathers of crop, shading into pale salmon on lower breast and abdomen; sides gray; flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts light buff; primaries and secondaries brown, edges reddish brown, basal half of inner web of primaries cinnamon; greater and median coverts reddish brown with wide gray tips forming two gray bands across each wing; lesser coverts gray; two middle pairs of rectrices brown on upper surface; the other rectrices gray, each with a subterminal black bar.
Length, about 280. A male from Bataan Province, Luzon, measures: Wing, 148; tail, 112; culmen from base, 21; tarsus, 35. A female from the same province measures: Wing, 145; tail, 102; culmen from base, 20; tarsus, 32.
This beautiful dove is often found in the Manila markets; it is a well-known favorite of the Spaniards. The species is commonly known as puñalada which means “stabbed with a dagger.” The Calamianes record of this species is doubtless an error.