(PLATE 22.)
_Pigeon hollandais_ Sonnerat, Voy. Ind. Orient. II, p. 175, pl. 101
(1782).
_Hackled Pigeon_ Latham, Syn. B. II, 2, p. 641, No. 36 (1783).
_Columba nitidissima_ Scopoli, Del. Flor. and Faun. Insubr. II, p. 93,
No. 89 (1786) (ex Sonnerat).
_Columba franciae_ Gmelin, Syst. Nat. I, 2, p. 779, No. 51 (1788). (ex
Sonnerat).
_Columba botanica_ Bonnaterre, Enc. Méth. I, p. 233 (1790).
_Ramier périssé_ Levaillant, Ois. d'Afr. VI, p. 74, pl. 267 (1808).
_Columba jubata_ Wagler, Syst. Av., _Columba_, sp. 22 (1827).
_Alectroenas nitidissima_ G. R. Gray, List Gen. B., p. 58 (1840).
_Alectroenas franciae_ Reichenbach, Syn. Av., _Columbariae_, p. 2, f.
1302 (1847).
_Columbigallus franciae_ Des Murs, Encycl. d'Hist. Nat., Ois. VI., p.
31, (1854?).
_Ptilopus nitidissimus_ Schlegel and Pollen, Rech. Faun. Madag., p. 159
(1868).
_Alectroenas nitidissimus_ G. R. Gray, Hand-list II, p. 228, No. 9164
(1870).
_Alectoroenas nitidissimus_ A. Newton, P. Z. S. 1879, pp. 2-4.
Sonnerat's original description, translated into English, is as follows:
"It is much larger than the European Woodpigeon; the feathers of the head,
neck and breast are long, narrow, and end in a point. These feathers are
rather curiously constructed, they have the polish, brilliancy, and feel of
a cartilaginous blade. I could not, with the aid of a lens, distinguish
whether these blades were formed by the conglomeration of the barbules, but
we may take it for granted that they are constituted in a like manner to
the wing appendages of the Bohemian Waxwing and the cartilaginous blades of
Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl. The eye is surrounded by naked skin of a deep red;
the back, the wings and the belly are of a dark blue; the rump and tail are
of a very bright carmine red; the beak and iris are of the same colour, and
the feet are black."
Undoubtedly quite extinct. Only three specimens are known of this bird: one
in Edinburgh, one in Paris, and one in Mauritius. Some bones were collected
by the Rev. H. H. Slater.