J. Gould iWJIarC dd. ft lith.
■FTBLOTOF1US l i A E T J S , Temnv.
PTILONOPUS NANUS.
Tiny Fruit-Pig'eon.
Columba naina, Temm. PI. Col. iv. pi. 252.—Knip and Temm. Iconogr. Pigeons, pi. 59.
Ptilonopus naina, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 467.
Ionotreron nana, Reich. Handb. Columbse, p. 100, taf. ccxxxix. fig. 1330.
Iotreron nana, Bp. Consp. Gen. Av. ii. p. 25.
Ptilonopus nanus, Wall. Ibis, 1865, p. 381.—Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 226.
Ptilopus nanus, Schl. Mus. P.-B. Columbee, p. 21.
T his is one o f the rarest, as it is one o f the most recognizable, o f the small Ptilonopi or Many-coloured
Fruit-Pigeons, a group o f birds which finds its greatest development in the Malay archipelago and Oceania.
T he small size and peculiar coloration readily distinguish this species from all the other members o f the
genus Ptilonopus.
Nothing has been recorded respecting the habits of this elegant little Pigeon. I t was first discovered by
Salomon MuHer in Triton Bay, or Lobo, in New G u in ea; and for many years his specimen remained unique.
More recently, however, the Dutch traveller M. Hoedt has discovered it in Mysol; and as one or two o f his
specimens reached England, I have been enabled to figure it in the present work. The Leiden Museum
also possesses two examples o f M. Hoedt’s collecting, the localities being Kasim and Waigaama, both in the
island o f Mysol. They were obtained in the months o f Ju n e and Ju ly respectively.
Adult male.— B right grass-green above and below, all the greater wing-coverts and inner secondaries
plainly edged with bright lemon-yellow, before which is a broad subterminal band of bright, rath er metallic,
bluish g r e e n ; primaries greyish black on their inner web, dark green on the outer, with a narrow edging
o f yellow to the secondaries; tail deep g r e e n ; on each side o f the neck a broad crescentic mark of pale
g r e y ; across the top o f the abdomen a broad band o f purple feathers, with some metallic bluish-green
subterminal bars to most o f them, the abdominal plumes tipped with yellow; under tail-coverts bright
yellow; thighs whitish ; under wing-coverts dark grey like the inner lining o f the wing, the outermost of
the coverts greenish with a narrow yellow edging.
The female has no abdominal spot.
As above stated, the Plate has been drawn from examples in my own cabinet, the figures representing both
sexes o f the natural size.