Columba bicolor Scopoli, Del Flor. et Faun. Insubr. (1786), 2, 94.
Carpophaga bicolor Cassin, Ornith. Wilkes Exped. (1858), 265,
pl. 28.
Myristicivora bicolor Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893),
21, 227; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 67; Oates, Cat. Birds' Eggs
(1901), 1, 86; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 12.
Ca-má-su, bá-lud blan'-co, in general use.
Balabac (Steere, Everett); Bantayan (McGregor); Bongao (Everett);
Cresta de Gallo (McGregor); Guimaras (Steere Exp.); Malanipa
(Murray); Marinduque (Steere Exp.); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester);
Mindanao (Everett, Koch & Schadenberg); Mindoro (Bourns &
Worcester, McGregor, Porter); Negros (Meyer, Steere Exp.); Nipa
(Everett); Palawan (Bourns & Worcester, White); Sakuijok (Everett);
Sibay (McGregor & Worcester); Siquijor (Steere Exp., Bourns &
Worcester, Celestino); Sulu (Guillemard, Bourns & Worcester);
Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester); Ticao (McGregor); West Bolod
(Mearns). Siam, Cochin-China, Malay Peninsula, Tenimber and
Indo-Malayan Islands, Andamans, Nicobars, and Moluccas.
Adult (sexes alike).--General color pale creamy white; head and sides
of head more or less ochraceous-yellow; wing-coverts and edge of wing
white; alula, primary-coverts, primaries, and most of the secondaries
black; outer web of longer primaries mealy; basal half, or more,
of rectrices and under tail-coverts light yellow, the coverts in
some specimens spotted with black; end of tail marked with a wide
black band which is widest on middle rectrices. Iris dark brown;
bill dull blue with a black tip; eyelids, legs, and feet dark blue;
nails black. Length, about 380; a male from Ticao measures: Wing, 229;
tail, 127; culmen from base, 25; tarsus, 27; a female from Cresta de
Gallo, wing, 229; tail, 127; culmen from base, 24; tarsus, 29.
The camaso, or balud blanco, being a very conspicuous bird, is well
known to both natives and Spaniards and can not be mistaken for
any other species of Philippine pigeon. The species is irregular
in distribution; it is often abundant on a small island and rare,
or entirely wanting, on a larger neighboring island. Worcester and
Bourns found it especially abundant in Siquijor. No specimens were
taken by Whitehead and it is unrecorded from Luzon, although there
seems to be no reason why it should be absent from that island.
Family COLUMBIDÆ.
Tarsus slender, feathered at base; bill slender, gape small, and
nostril covering conspicuously swollen; tail nearly square or greatly
graduated; colors blackish or reddish brown.
Subfamilies.
a1. Tail moderate, nearly square; plumage mostly blackish with purple
and green metallic reflections. ... Columbinæ (p. 51)
a2. Tail greatly elongated and graduated; plumage mostly chestnut or
rufous-brown with little metallic color. ... Macropyginæ (p. 52)
Subfamily COLUMBINÆ.
Genus COLUMBA Linnæus, 1758.
Bill comparatively slender; membrane behind nostril greatly swollen
and bulging out on the side; first primary very slightly scooped on
inner web; tarsus feathered at the base. The only Philippine species
is almost entirely black, glossed with green and purple.