_J. Gould and H.C. Richter del^t._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
GEOPHAPS SMITHII.
Smith’s Partridge Bronze-wing.
_Columba Smithii_, Jard. and Selb. Ill. Orn., vol. iii. pl. 104.
_M̏an-ga_, Aborigines of the Cobourg Peninsula.
_Partridge Pigeon_, Residents of Port Essington.
In structure this species is in every respect a true _Geophaps_, and the
accompanying notes by Mr. Gilbert show that it as closely assimilates in
its habits and economy to the type of the genus as it well can. It
appears to be abundant on the north coast of Australia, which is the
only part of the country from which I have yet received it.
“This bird,” says Mr. Gilbert, “which at Port Essington is termed
the Partridge, from its habits much resembling those of that bird,
exhibits a departure in several of its essential characters from the
typical Pigeons. In its general habits, flight, voice, mode of
incubation, and the character of its newly hatched young, it differs
considerably from all its congeners. It is rather abundant in all
parts of the Peninsula, is mostly seen in small families and always
on the ground, unless when disturbed or alarmed; it then usually
flies into the nearest tree, generally choosing the largest part of
a horizontal branch to perch upon. When it rises from the ground its
flight is accompanied with a louder flapping or burring noise than I
have observed in any other Pigeon.
“Its note is a coo, so rolled out that it greatly resembles the note
of the Quail, and which, like that bird, it scarcely ever utters but
when on the ground, where it frequently remains stationary, allowing
itself to be almost trod upon before rising. Its favourite haunts
are meadows covered with short grass near water, or the edges of
newly burnt brush. It would seem that this species migrates
occasionally from one part of the country to another; for during the
months of September and October not a single individual was to be
seen, while at the time of my arrival and for a month after they
were so abundant that it was a common and daily occurrence for
persons to leave the settlement for an hour or two and return with
several brace; in the latter part of November they again appeared,
but were not so numerous as before; and in the January and February
following they were rarely to be met with, and then mostly in pairs
inhabiting the long grasses clothing the moister parts of the
meadows.
“This bird incubates from August to October, making no nest, but
merely smoothing down a small part of a clump of grass and forming a
slight hollow, in which it deposits two eggs, which are greenish
white, one inch and a quarter long by seven-eighths of an inch in
breadth. The young bird on emerging from the egg is clothed with
down like the young of the Quail.”
Eyes surrounded with a large naked space of a bright reddish orange
colour; head and all the upper surface olive-brown; throat white, the
tips of the last feathers grey, forming a surrounding margin of that
colour; on the cheeks a large brownish grey spot, nearly insulated by
the large space of the eyes being surrounded by a narrow band of white,
the feathers of which are tipped with black; chest reddish brown; on the
centre of the breast a few of the feathers are clear grey, margined at
the tip with black; breast and abdomen purplish olive-brown; flanks
white; lower part of the abdomen and vent buff; primaries and
secondaries dark brown, margined with pale brown; the outer webs of the
three or four last secondaries, and one or two greater coverts for
two-thirds of their length from the base rich purple with greenish wavy
reflexions; two centre tail-feathers olive-brown, the remainder deep
slate-grey at base and black at the extremity; under tail-coverts dark
brown margined with light brown; irides of three colours, first a narrow
ring of red next the pupil, then a broader ring of pure white, and
lastly a narrow one of grey; bill blackish grey; legs and feet bluish
grey; back of the tarsi and inner side of the feet yellowish grey.
The figures are those of a male and female of the natural size.
[Illustration:
GEOPHAPS PLUMIFERA: _Gould_.
_J. Gould and H.C. Richter lithog._ _C. Hullmandel Imp._
]
GEOPHAPS PLUMIFERA, _Gould_.
Plumed Partridge Bronze-wing.
_Geophaps plumifera_, Gould in Proc. of Zool. Soc., February 8, 1842.
This rare and highly interesting species of Pigeon was sent me by my
friend B. Bynoe, Esq., who procured it on the north-west coast of
Australia. The notes accompanying the bird informed me that “it inhabits
the country between Cape Hotham and the island of Depuch; the specimen
sent is from the isolated water reaches about 150 miles up the Victoria
River. It congregates on the ground and rises like a Quail, plunging
immediately afterwards in the thick long grass.”
In its structure and markings it closely assimilates to the other
members of the genus _Geophaps_; but widely differs from them in its
diminutive size, and in the possession of a long and graceful crest
springing from the occiput, a character which exists in several of the
_Gallinacea_, and is familiar to every one in the pretty Pewit or
Lapwing (_Vanellus cristatus_) of the British Islands.
Lores and orbits naked, and of a yellowish red; head furnished with a
lengthened occipital crest, which with the crown, sides of the neck and
chest, and under part of the wing, are light ferruginous; chin black;
throat banded alternately with white and black, the latter colour
extending to the ear-coverts; on the chest two semilunar marks of white,
which meeting form a point in the centre; middle of the abdomen light
buff; under tail-coverts brown, with lighter edges; back of the neck,
back, rump and upper tail-coverts rufous brown; wings light ferruginous,
with the basal half of the feathers silvery grey, the two colours
separated by a transverse band of black; primaries rufous brown;
secondaries brown, with a large patch of bronze-purple towards their
tips; tail black; bill black; feet reddish brown.
The figures are of the natural size.
[Illustration: