Ptilopus (Rhamphiculus) marchei Oustalet, Le Naturaliste (1880),
324.
Ptilopus marchei Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 21,
75; Grant, Ibis (1895), 1, 468; Whitehead, Ibis (1899), 486.
Leucotreron marchii Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 55.
Leucotreron marchei McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 10.
Luzon (Marche, Whitehead, Worcester).
"Adult male.--Entire top of head dull crimson-red, the same color
being continued down the sides of the cheeks, on either side of
the throat; feathers surrounding the eye light red; hind cheek and
ear-coverts dusky black; back and sides of the neck and upper part of
the breast pearl-gray, forming a collar which completely separates the
dull crimson crown from the dusky black mantle and back; wings like
the back, but with green reflections; lower back, rump, and upper
tail-coverts bronze-brown with green reflections; primary quills
black, finely edged with pale yellow; the two outer secondaries are
similarly margined, the remainder edged with crimson along the middle
of the outer web, the crimson barbs being loose and free and forming a
large patch on the wing; tail bronze-brown, broadly edged with brownish
gray, beneath dark gray tipped with whitish; chin and middle of throat
brownish buff; in the center of the gray breast a large patch of bright
orange-vermilion washed with lake, shading into deep red-lake below;
this is followed by a patch of creamy white; rest of under parts dull
pearly gray, most of the feathers finely edged with creamy yellow;
under tail-coverts buff, with brownish gray centers. 'Eye: inner ring
yellow, outer lake-red; bill at base brick-red, tipped with yellow;
feet deep coral-red.' (Whitehead.) Length, 400; wing, 180; tail, 129;
tarsus, 32.
"Adult female.--Similar to the male, but crown of a less crimson tinge;
lower part of the back, rump, and tail bronze-green, distinctly greener
than in the male; upper part of the breast-patch orange-red without
the crimson wash. Length, 373; wing, 173; tail, 114; tarsus, 29.
"Young male.--The whole of the upper parts is brownish bronze shot
with green; the dull crimson of the top of the head and the free
crimson webs of the secondaries are just beginning to make their
appearance; the whole of the feathers of the chest and upper breast
are gray, widely tipped with bronze-green, the only patches of pure
gray feathers being visible on each side of the neck. The orange-red
breast-patch is represented by a deep orange feather in the middle
of the chest and some dark carmine feathers. Otherwise the rest of
the plumage is much like that of the adult." (Grant.)
Marche's fruit pigeon was described in 1880 from a single specimen
which remained unique for fifteen years when Whitehead rediscovered
the species in Lepanto. So far as we at present know, this species
is confined to this subprovince and the neighboring subprovince of
Bontoc. The Igorots say that at certain seasons of the year these birds
become very fat and heavy and that they are then taken by pursuing
them until they are exhausted. This account is probably correct as
the specimens seen in the possession of the Igorots are not injured,
while birds taken in snares or with bird-lime are seldom fit for
specimens. This species may be recognized at once by the large red
patch on the secondaries. In 1903 a pigeon, probably of this species,
was killed in Bontoc by the Hon. Dean C. Worcester but the skin
was lost.