The adult pigeon was largely blue-grey, with a buffy orange belly and a distinctive slaty-blue crest.

The bird's head sported a blue frontal shield surrounded by black feathers and a bicoloured beak.

The Choiseul pigeon lived in lowland forests, particularly in coastal swampy areas that lacked mangroves.

It was only recorded by Albert Stewart Meek, who collected six adults and an egg from the northern part of the island in 1904.

The indigenous peoples reported that the species was driven to extinction due to the introduction of cats, as the pigeon had never previously confronted a carnivorous mammal on Choiseul.

The Choiseul pigeon was described by Walter Rothschild in 1904 on the basis of six skins—three male and three female—and an egg collected by Albert Stewart Meek earlier that year.

[14] The indigenous peoples of Choiseul called the species either "kumku-peka" or "kukuru-ni-lua", which translates literally as "pigeon-belong-ground".

[11] Though many artists have speculated, it is unknown how the pigeon held its crest in life as Meek's notes did not cover this subject.

John Gerrard Keulemans (who produced the illustration accompanying Rothschild's original description), depicted the crest as being flat based on Meek's specimens; other artists have presented it as spread and scraggly like that of the crowned pigeons.

[9] This was surrounded by short, velvety black feathers that extended from the base of the bill to the area just below and in front of the eye, while the area below the eye was a pinkish wash.[17] The bird's chin and throat were sparsely covered with black, velvety feathers, while the neck was a slaty-blue that transitioned into a brownish-grey breast.

[11] The back was grey and transitioned into a browner rump, while the uppertail-coverts were a dark sooty-grey with blackish tips.

[3] The bird's voice was never recorded; however, after it became extinct, the indigenous peoples described it as possessing a "beautiful rising and falling whistling call given from the roost site every evening.

[16] They claimed that the species was very tame, allowing local hunters to approach it and pick it up off of its perch by hand.

[13][22] Several local boys told Meek that the pigeon was also present on the nearby islands of Santa Isabel and Malaita.

[24] This pigeon was a source of food for the local people, who would locate its roosting sites either due to the bird calling or by the droppings that had accumulated below its perches.

[11] It was well-remembered by the indigenous peoples, and stories of the delicious ground-dwelling pigeon were passed down by local elders after its extinction.

[4] If the pigeon existed on islands that feral cats had never reached, it is believed that the clearance of its forest habitat would have led to its local extinction.