Carpophaga carola Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Avium (1854), 2, 34;
Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 21, 206.
Ptilocolpa carola Grant, Ibis (1895), 117; Whitehead, Ibis (1899),
489; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 65; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 12.
Ptilocolpa griseipectus Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Avium (1854), 2, 34.
Luzon (Gevers, Heriot, Whitehead, McGregor); Mindoro (Steere
Exp., Whitehead, McGregor, Porter); Mindanao (Everett, Koch &
Schadenberg); [7] Sibuyan (McGregor).
Adult male.--All of head, neck all around, back and interscapulars
light gray; chin white; lower throat delicate light gray, bordered
behind by a narrow white band and this followed by a wide, dark gray
band on fore breast; lower breast, abdomen, and flanks dark chestnut,
darker and slightly purplish on breast; sides gray; alula, primaries,
and their coverts, dark, glossy blue-green; secondaries blue-green,
mealy along outer edges; wing-coverts and inner secondaries canescent,
the smaller feathers each with a dark spot at tip; rump-feathers
canescent with glossy green centers and light purple edges; rectrices
and upper coverts glossy blue-green, shafts black; rectrices black
below, except outermost pair which are brown with white shafts. Iris
white mottled with pink; bill rose-pink, the "nail" white; legs
rose-pink, nails brown. Two males from Benguet, Luzon, average:
Length, 356; wing, 216; tail, 131; culmen from base, 22; tarsus, 22.
Adult female.--Somewhat similar to the male but without a white band
across the crop; fore breast light purple dulled by its slightly mealy
look; held toward the light, it becomes green and away from the light,
slightly metallic copper-red washed with vinous; rest of under parts
much lighter chestnut than in male; wing-coverts glossy green, lesser
and median coverts with blue spots at tips; interscapulars vinous
and slightly mealy; lower back and rump green with touches of deep
blue. The following notes are from an adult female taken in Benguet,
Luzon: Iris with an inner white ring and outer pinkish ring; eyelids
dirty white; bare skin about eyes blue-gray; bill deep rose-red,
tip white; legs and feet rose-red, soles yellowish; nails brown.
Young.--Immature birds have the fore breast chestnut, uniform with
the abdomen, thus not resembling the adult plumage of either sex;
wings rich metallic green, or copper-red, without canescence and the
primaries neither scooped nor cut as are those of the adult.
The plumage of the male and female in the gray-breasted fruit pigeon is
so different that the sexes were long considered to represent distinct
species. Grant, working on the material gathered by Whitehead, has
shown that these differences are sexual and not specific and more
recently collected material sustains his conclusions.
In habits these birds are quite similar to the slightly larger imperial
pigeons or baluds. They feed on large seeds or nuts and are often
found in considerable numbers in fruiting trees.