PTILOPUS WALLACEI.
Wallace’s Fruit-Pigeon.
Ptilonopus wallacei, Gray, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1858, pp. 185, 195, pi. 136.—Id. Cat. B. New Guinea, pp. 45, 60
(1859).—Id. Proc. Zool. Soc. 1861, p. 437.—Reichenb. Columbariee, ii. p. 178 (1862).—Rosenb.
N. T. Nederl. Ind. xxv. p. 248 (1863).—Wallace, Ibis, 1865, p. 380.— Finsch, Neu-Guinea, p. 177
(1865).—Pelz. Verh. zool.-bot. Gesellsch. Wien, xxii. p. 430 (1872).
Philopus wallacei, Rosenb. Reis, naar Zuidostereil, p. 50 (1867).
Ptilinopus wallacei, Gray, Hand-1. B. ii. p. 227, no. 9154 (1870).
Ptilopus wallacei, Rosenb. Reis, naar Zuidostereil, p. 81 (1867).—Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Columbae, p. 18
(1873).—Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, ix. p. 197 (1876).—Elliot, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 555.—
Salvad. Ann. Mus. Civic. Genov, xiv. p. 658 (1879).—Id. Orn. Papuasia, etc. iii. p. 30 (1881)..
T his beautiful Pigeon was discovered by Mr. A. R . W allace in the Aru Islands, where it has also been met with
by Dr. Beccari and Baron Von Rosenberg. The last-named naturalist has also observed it on the Ke
Islands, and more recently a fine series has been brought from the Tenimber Islands by Mr. H. O. Forbes.
W e have carefully compared Mr. Forbes’s specimens with the typical Aru-Islands bird and cannot find the
slightest difference between them.
This beautiful Pigeon, Mr. Forbes informs us, is very common in the northern portions o f the Tenimber
group which he visited, frequenting the fig-trees ( Urostigma) . Its nature is very tame, and numbers of
specimens could be easily procured. The native name is “ Wofoen Ratoe.”
We have described a fine pair o f birds collected in the above-named locality by Mr. Forbes.
Adult male. Crown o f head, tapering somewhat to a point on the nape, deep crimson, as well as the lores ;
feathers behind the eye and ear-coverts, sides o f neck, hind neck, and mantle delicate French g re y ; upper
back and scapulars mottled, the feathers being delicate French grey, with orange m argins; lesser wing-coverts
dull orange, forming a shoulder-patch; median coverts French grey, with broad edgings of yellowish olive;
greater series green, inclining to olive-yellow towards the ends and narrowly margined with yellow; bastard
wing, primary-coverts, and quills deep grass-green with a bronzy gloss, the inner webs being blue-black ;
secondaries more olive than the primaries and edged with yellow, the innermost secondaries olive yellowish
with grey centres like the g rea te r wing-coverts; remainder o f back yellowish green, with more o r less o f an
orange tinge, especially on the upper back, where there is a patch o f dull o ran g e ; upper tail-coverts and
tail yellowish green, dark green towards the base, the terminal half pale greenish ashy, edged externally with
yellow and becoming whitish on the inner web ; the ends o f the feathers dusky greenish, broader on the centre
o n e s ; cheeks, throat, and ear-coverts white, with a faint grey shade on the throat, the upper p a rt o f the
ear-coverts rath e r d u sky; fore neck and chest pale F rench grey like the sides o f the neck, aud forming a band >
breast deep rich orange, separated from the grey chest by a rather broad band o f white slightly sullied with
g rey ; abdomen bright yellow; sides o f breast, axillaries, and under wing-coverts French g r e y ; lower Hanks
olive-green; thighs g re y ; under tail-coverts yellow, edged broadly with green ; quills grey, becoming dusky
towards their ends ; “ bill yellow, but paler on the lower mandible ; legs and feet purple ; iris with golden inner
rin g and outer one o f light red ” (H. 0 . Forbes) . Total length 9 inches, culmen 0*8, wing 5*9, tail 3*2,
tarsus 0*95.
The female is like the male, but a trifle duller in colour.
The figures in the Plate represent a pair o f birds, o f the size o f life; they have been drawn from
Mr. Forbes’s specimens above described.
[R. B. S.]