The adult has an iridescent purple and green crown, black wing and uppertail coverts, yellowish red iris, yellow bill, red orbital skin, white or grey chin and ear coverts, and purplish feet. It has a dull chestnut or glossed purple green below, depends on subspecies.
Not Threatened.
The adult has an iridescent purple and green crown, black wing and uppertail coverts, yellowish red iris, yellow bill, red orbital skin, white or grey chin and ear coverts, and purplish feet. It has a dull chestnut or glossed purple green below, depends on subspecies.
Taxonomy:
- Columba vitiensis Quoy and Gaimard, 1830, Fiji. Belongs to a superspecies of dark-coloured, iridescent Asian and Australasian forms, including C. janthina and C. leucomela, and the extinct C. versicolor and C. jouyi; C. pallidiceps may also be related. Race godmanae of Lord Howe I extinct; validity uncertain, as no specimen exists, the description being based on a painting. Proposed race mendeni from Taliabu, Sula Is no longer regarded as valid. Eight subspecies recognized. (source: Handbook of the Birds of World)
Subspecies and Distribution:
- * griseogularis (Walden & E. L. Layard, 1872) - Philippines, Sulu Archipelago, and islands off N Borneo. * anthracina (Hachisuka, 1939) - Palawan, probably Calauit, and possibly also some islands off N Borneo. * metallica (Temminck, 1835) - Lesser Sundas. * halmaheira (Bonaparte, 1855) - Banggai and Sula Is through Moluccas and W Papuan Is to New Guinea, then on to Louisiade Archipelago and Solomon Is. * leopoldi (Tristram, 1879) - Vanuatu. * hypoenochroa (Gould, 1856) - New Caledonia, I of Pines and Loyalty Is. * vitiensis Quoy & Gaimard, 1830 - Fiji. * castaneiceps Peale, 1848 - Western Samoa, on Savaii, Apolima, Manono and Upolu.
The nominate form C. v. vitiensis from Fiji has a dull underparts, while subspecies C. v. halmaheira of Maluku Islands has the most iridescent plumage.
The diet consists mainly of various fruits, grains, seeds and berries.