Columba luzonica Scopoli, Del Flor. et Faun. Insubr. (1786), 94.
Phlogoenas luzonica Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 21,
585; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 88; McGregor and Worcester,
Hand-List (1906), 15.
Pu-ña-lá-da, Manila and generally.
Luzon (Meyer, Everett, Heriot, Steere Exp., Whitehead, McGregor,
Celestino).
Adult (sexes similar).--Top of head, from base of bill to hind border
of eye, gray; rest of upper parts dark brown, each feather, except
rectrices and their coverts, edged with metallic green or purple,
according to the light; the edging wider on interscapulars; sides
of neck similar to back; chin, throat, and sides of face below eyes
pure white; a patch of blood-red on the stiffish feathers of crop,
shading into pale salmon on lower breast and abdomen; sides gray;
flanks, thighs, and under tail-coverts light buff; primaries and
secondaries brown, edges reddish brown, basal half of inner web
of primaries cinnamon; greater and median coverts reddish brown
with wide gray tips forming two gray bands across each wing; lesser
coverts gray; two middle pairs of rectrices brown on upper surface;
the other rectrices gray, each with a subterminal black bar.
Length, about 280. A male from Bataan Province, Luzon, measures: Wing,
148; tail, 112; culmen from base, 21; tarsus, 35. A female from the
same province measures: Wing, 145; tail, 102; culmen from base, 20;
tarsus, 32.
This beautiful dove is often found in the Manila markets; it is a
well-known favorite of the Spaniards. The species is commonly known
as puñalada which means "stabbed with a dagger." The Calamianes record
of this species is doubtless an error.