The CRESTED BRONZE-WING (_Ocyphaps lophotes_), the most striking member of the family, has a slender body, moderately long, pointed wing, and long, graduated tail, formed of fourteen feathers, and wedge-shaped at its extremity. The short beak is hooked at the tip, and the low foot has its centre toe almost as long as the tarsus; the back of the head is decorated with a long, pointed plume. The head, face, breast, and under side are grey; the crest is black, the mantle light olive-brown, shading into red on the sides of the head; the large feathers on the wing-covers are of a glossy, metallic bronze-green, edged with white; the quills brown, narrowly bordered with brownish white, and partially tipped with white; the centre tail-feathers are light brown, the rest of a deeper shade, with a greenish sheen on the outer web and white tips. The eye is orange-red, the bare skin around the eye red, the beak deep olive, with a brown base and black tip, the foot red. The length is thirteen inches and a half, and that of the wing and tail six inches each. "The chasteness of its colouring," says Mr. Gould, "the extreme elegance of its form, and the graceful crest which flows from its occiput all tend to render this Pigeon one of the most lovely members of its family, and it is therefore to be regretted that owing to its being exclusively an inhabitant of the interior of Australia it can never become an object of general observation. As might be supposed, this bird has attracted the notice of all travellers who have crossed the Blue Mountains." Captain Sturt mentions it as being numerous on the plains of Wellington Valley and in the neighbourhood of the Morumbidgee. "The locality nearest the coast-line that I know it to inhabit is the country near the bend of the river Murray, in South Australia, where it is tolerably abundant. It is numerous on the banks of the Namoi, and is occasionally seen on the Liverpool Plains. It frequently assembles in very large flocks, and when it visits the lagoons or river-sides for water, during the dry seasons, generally selects a single tree, or even a particular branch, on which to congregate before descending simultaneously with its companions to drink." "Its flight is so rapid as to be unequalled by that of any member of the group to which it belongs. An impetus being given by a few quick flaps of the wing, it goes skimming off, apparently without any further movement of the pinions. Upon alighting on a branch it elevates its tail and throws back its head so as to bring them nearly together, at the same time erecting its crest and showing itself to the utmost advantage."