Carpophaga mindorensis Whitehead, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1896),
ser. 6, 18, 189; Ibis (1899), 488; Grant, Ibis (1896), 476, pl. 11.
Zonophaps mindorensis Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 65; McGregor
and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 12.
Mindoro (Whitehead).
"Adult male.--Most nearly allied to Carpophaga radiata (Quoy and
Gaimard) but much larger. Top of head, neck, breast, and rest of under
parts bluish slate-gray, darkest on belly and under tail-coverts, the
latter indistinctly edged with rufous; forehead, cheeks, and throat
pale whitish pink; feathers surrounding eye and forming a patch above
ear-coverts, blackish gray; hind neck gradually shading into sooty
black on the mantle and interscapulary region; scapulars and inner
wing-coverts bronze-lake, changing to bronze-green on the rest of the
wings, rump, and upper tail-coverts; primary quills blackish gray,
the inner ones glossed on the outer web and toward the extremity with
metallic green; tail-feathers black, glossed with purple and green,
and with a wide gray band across the middle; under wing-coverts and
axillars slightly glossed with bronze. Length, 482; exposed culmen,
23; wing, 234; tail, 178; tarsus, 35; middle toe with claw, 51.
"Adult female.--Similar to the male but rather smaller, and the under
tail-coverts distinctly margined with chestnut. Length, 445; exposed
culmen, 23; wing, 223; tail, 159; tarsus, 33; middle toe with claw,
46." (Whitehead.)
This species is much larger than Zonophaps poliocephala from which
it differs also in the following points: A large black patch on
ear-coverts and surrounding eye; forehead, cheeks, and chin fawn-color;
occiput, neck, crop, breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts gray.
"Male.--Iris bright yellow, with an outer ring of red; orbital skin
lake-red, with a grayish yellow space between the rings; bill black;
feet coral-pink. Female: Iris straw-yellow, with an outer ring of
golden brown; orbital skin orange-yellow, bill olive-brown, black at
tip; feet salmon-red; nails black.
"This species is more often met with singly or in pairs, but sometimes
as many as four birds were seen together; they were feeding on some
large purple colored fruits as big as a pigeon's egg. C. mindorensis,
like the last species (Zonophaps poliocephala), has a conspicuous
fleshy ring outside the eyelid. * * * During dull misty weather,
especially just after daybreak, the penetrating booming note is more
often heard than on clear days." (Whitehead.)
So far as known the species is confined to the highlands of Mindoro
at an elevation of between 1,200 and 1,800 meters.
Genus MYRISTICIVORA Reichenbach, 1852.
Inner webs of first and second primaries very slightly attenuated;
tarsus feathered in front for half its length. This genus is remarkable
for its coloration; parts of the wings and tail, slate or black,
the rest of the plumage pale creamy white.