A Manual of Philippine BirdsMcGregor, Richard C. (Richard Crittenden)
Science
A Manual of Philippine Birds
McGregor, Richard C. (Richard Crittenden)
Birds -- Philippines
"Comparatively rare and usually frequents the loftiest trees. For
a long time we mistook its deep booming note for the hoot of some
great owl. Occasionally it comes down into low second-growth where
it is easily shot, being very stupid about making its escape.
"Iris with outer red and inner yellow or brown ring; legs and feet
red; nails dark brown; bill black; eyelids red. Length 400." (Bourns
and Worcester MS.)
41. ZONOPHAPS MINDORENSIS (Whitehead).
MINDORO ZONE-TAILED PIGEON.
Carpophaga mindorensis Whitehead, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (1896),
ser. 6, 18, 189; Ibis (1899), 488; Grant, Ibis (1896), 476, pl. 11.
Zonophaps mindorensis Sharpe, Hand-List (1899), 1, 65; McGregor
and Worcester, Hand-List (1906), 12.
Mindoro (Whitehead).
"Adult male.--Most nearly allied to Carpophaga radiata (Quoy and
Gaimard) but much larger. Top of head, neck, breast, and rest of under
parts bluish slate-gray, darkest on belly and under tail-coverts, the
latter indistinctly edged with rufous; forehead, cheeks, and throat
pale whitish pink; feathers surrounding eye and forming a patch above
ear-coverts, blackish gray; hind neck gradually shading into sooty
black on the mantle and interscapulary region; scapulars and inner
wing-coverts bronze-lake, changing to bronze-green on the rest of the
wings, rump, and upper tail-coverts; primary quills blackish gray,
the inner ones glossed on the outer web and toward the extremity with
metallic green; tail-feathers black, glossed with purple and green,
and with a wide gray band across the middle; under wing-coverts and
axillars slightly glossed with bronze. Length, 482; exposed culmen,
23; wing, 234; tail, 178; tarsus, 35; middle toe with claw, 51.
"Adult female.--Similar to the male but rather smaller, and the under
tail-coverts distinctly margined with chestnut. Length, 445; exposed
culmen, 23; wing, 223; tail, 159; tarsus, 33; middle toe with claw,
46." (Whitehead.)
This species is much larger than Zonophaps poliocephala from which
it differs also in the following points: A large black patch on
ear-coverts and surrounding eye; forehead, cheeks, and chin fawn-color;
occiput, neck, crop, breast, abdomen, and under tail-coverts gray.
"Male.--Iris bright yellow, with an outer ring of red; orbital skin
lake-red, with a grayish yellow space between the rings; bill black;
feet coral-pink. Female: Iris straw-yellow, with an outer ring of
golden brown; orbital skin orange-yellow, bill olive-brown, black at
tip; feet salmon-red; nails black.
"This species is more often met with singly or in pairs, but sometimes
as many as four birds were seen together; they were feeding on some
large purple colored fruits as big as a pigeon's egg. C. mindorensis,
like the last species (Zonophaps poliocephala), has a conspicuous
fleshy ring outside the eyelid. * * * During dull misty weather,
especially just after daybreak, the penetrating booming note is more
often heard than on clear days." (Whitehead.)
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