A Manual of Philippine Birds. Richard C. McGregor
the Philippines, but is altogether a larger bird; the purplish chestnut mantle is bordered above by a very conspicuous interscapulary band of lavender-gray, of the same color as the crown; this color is of a lighter shade than in O. axillaris and the interscapulary band is much less distinct and not so pure gray in the latter. In O. everetti the green of the neck and breast is a shade lighter and more tinged with yellow, the abdomen paler and more grayish along the middle. Length, about 279; wing, 161 to 165 (♀ 162 to 165); tail, 91 to 92; bill, 19; tarsus, 23. ‘Iris greenish silvery’ (Everett); ‘iris pearly green; bill red at base, blue at tip; feet pale slate.’ (Guillemard.) I have no female of true O. axillaris to compare, but the female of O. everetti seems to be the larger, and the mantle much darker olive.” (Rothschild.)
I have seen no specimens of Everett’s green pigeon.
15. OSMOTRERON VERNANS (Linnæus).
PINK-NECKED GREEN PIGEON.
Columba vernans Linnæus, Mantissa Plantarum (1771), 526.
Osmotreron vernans Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 21, 60; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 54; Oates, Cat. Birds’ Eggs (1901), 1, 83; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 9.
Pú-nay. in general use.
Bantayan (McGregor); Basilan (Everett, Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Bohol (Everett, McGregor); Calamianes (Bourns & Worcester, McGregor); Cebu (Everett, McGregor); Guimaras (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Luzon (Meyer, Heriot, Steere Exp., McGregor); Masbate (Bourns & Worcester); Mindanao (Everett, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Goodfellow); Mindoro (McGregor, Porter); Negros (Bourns & Worcester, Keay); Palawan (Everett, Platen, Whitehead, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, White); Panay (Steere, Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester); Siasi (Guillemard); Sibay (Porter); Siquijor (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester, Celestino). Celebes, Malay Peninsula, Indo-Malay Islands, Indo-Chinese provinces.
Adult male.—Head, chin, and upper throat blue-gray, darkest on crown; forehead, sides of face, chin, and throat faintly greenish; neck all round and sides of head behind eye lavender-gray, forming a narrow band on hind neck and a wide patch on lower throat, followed by a patch of deep orange on breast; lower breast and abdomen yellowish green, clear lemon-yellow on middle of belly; sides and lining of wing blue-gray; flanks and thighs dark olive-green, the latter streaked with light lemon-yellow; under tail-coverts chestnut; back, rump, mantle, and secondary-coverts dull gray-green, richer green on the coverts; upper tail-coverts like rump but with a faint chestnut wash; primaries, alula, primary-coverts, and outer secondaries black; some of the primaries and secondaries edged with yellow; greater coverts broadly margined with pale yellow, forming a conspicuous band; rectrices slate-gray above, each with a black subterminal band and washed with green near the base; rectrices blackish below with narrow slate-gray tips. Base of bill black, tip pale blue; iris light yellow; legs and feet coral-pink. Salvadori quotes the following iris colors from Davidson: “Irides with three rings, the outer one rose-pink, the next prussian-blue, the innermost ultramarine-blue.” Length, 280; wing, 147; tail, 92; culmen from base, 19; tarsus, 23.
Adult female.—Nearly all green; somewhat similar to the male but darker green above; the lavender wanting on head and neck, and orange wanting on breast, these parts being dark green; under tail-coverts pale yellow, more or less washed with cinnamon on inner webs. One female from Mariveles, Bataan Province, measures: Length, 280; wing, 148; tail, 93; culmen from base, 19; tarsus, 22.
“Young male.—Resembles the female, but with some trace of the vinaceous purple color on the neck, and of the brown-orange on the breast.
“Young female.—Has the rufescent color of the upper tail-coverts scarcely visible, and the central tail-feathers more or less tinged with green.
“Some specimens have the forehead and throat more or less tinged with greenish, but they are not confined to a particular locality. I have seen in the Museum of Paris a variety entirely of a canary-yellow.” (Salvadori.)
“Its nest is a mere platform of twigs, grass-stems, tendrils, and leaves, measuring about 180 mm. in breadth. The eggs are nearly oval in form, pure white in color, and measure 31 by 24.” (Bourns and Worcester MS.)
Genus PHAPITRERON Bonaparte, 1854.
Length, 230 to 280 mm.; sexes alike in color; colors nearly uniform brown of various shades; a wide iridescent band on neck; primaries neither scooped nor cut; rectrices graduated and rounded and with gray tips; under tail-coverts gray or dark buff. Birds of this genus are closely related inter se, maculipectus alone showing a slight departure from the type in its mottled breast. The species fall naturally into two groups which might take the rank of subgenera were anything to be gained thereby. The first five species (see key to species), the amethystina group are rare deep-woods birds; their colors are generally darker brown than those of the leucotis group and the bill is noticeably longer and heavier, being longer than tarsus. The five species of the leucotis group are fairly common in their respective ranges; they are to be found in more open country or even on the borders of rice-fields; in this group the tarsus equals, or is slightly greater than, the culmen.
Species.
a1. Culmen more than 19 mm.; longer than tarsus.b1. Breast not mottled.c1. Under tail-coverts cinnamon or ocherous-brown.d1. Breast brown; wing longer amethystina (p. 30)d2. Breast pearly ash; wing shorter brunneiceps (p. 32)c2. Under tail-coverts ashy gray.d1. Under tail-coverts not tipped with fulvous cinereiceps (p. 31)d2. Under tail-coverts slightly tipped with fulvous frontalis (p. 32)b2. Breast distinctly mottled maculipectus (p. 33)
a2. Culmen less than 17 mm.; equal to or less than tarsus.b1. Forehead gray or fulvous, not white.c1. Throat and cheeks deep ruddy fulvous.d1. Throat darker; occiput dull amethystine-rufous leucotis (p. 33)d2. Throat lighter; occiput bright coppery amethystine occipitalis (p. 34)c2. Throat and cheeks pale fulvous.d1. Forehead grayish; light streak under eye fulvous nigrorum (p. 35)d2. Forehead pale fulvous; light streak under eye white brevirostris (p. 35)b3. Forehead and chin pure white albifrons (p. 36)
16. PHAPITRERON AMETHYSTINA Bonaparte.
AMETHYSTINE BROWN PIGEON.
Phapitreron amethystina Bonaparte, Consp. Gen. Avium (1854), 2, 28; Compt. Rend. (1855), 40, 214; McGregor and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 10.
Phabotreron amethystina Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. (1875), 9, 214, pl. 34, fig. 2; Salvadori, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 21, 66; Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 55.
Bohol (McGregor); Dinagat (Everett); Leyte (Steere Exp.); Luzon (Meyer, McGregor); Mindanao (Everett, Goodfellow, Celestino); Panaon (Everett); Samar (Steere Exp., Whitehead).
Adult.—A black line below