Mr. E. Blyth's Drafts for a Fauna Indica. 51 



the species are very numerous, two only occurring in India, and 

 others in Austraha and Polynesia. They are gregarious, like the 

 Hurrials, and keep exclusively to the great forests, more espe- 

 cially to those of upland districts : and it would appear that they 

 do not generally lay more than a single egg, and certain species 

 invariably but one; in which respect they resemble the cele- 

 brated Passenger Pigeon of North America [Ectopistes migra- 

 toria). At least three subgenera occm', at the head of which 

 may be placed LopholaimuSy G. R. Gray, founded on the Col. ant- 

 arcticaj Shaw (v. dilopha, Temm.), of Australia; then follow the 

 ordinary Dunkuls, of which the two Indian species are charac- 

 teristic ; and finally a short-winged type, with bill and feet as 

 in the former, and colouring as in the division Chalcophajjs (of 

 the next subfamily), to which I apply the appellation Dendro- 

 phaps. 



C. iNSiGNis : Ducula insignisy Hodgson, As. Res. xix. 162 : 

 Carp, cuprea, Jerdon, Madr. Journ.1840, p. 12, and subsequently 

 referred by him to Col. baditty Raffles, ibid. 1844, p. 164. (Dukul, 

 Nepal; Dunkul, H.) Head, neck and under-parts pale ruddy 

 lilac-gray; the throat albescent; and crown pure cinereous in 

 some specimens, in others tinged with ruddy ; back and wings 

 deep vinaceous-brown ; the rump and upper tail-coverts dusky- 

 cinereous, and the lower tail-coverts buffy -white ; tail dusky, 

 with its terminal fourth dull ashy above, and albescent as seen 

 from beneath. Bill, circle of eyelids and legs intense sanguine, 

 except the tip of the bill and the claws, which are horn-coloured ; 

 orbital skin livid; and irides "hoary or blue-gray,^' according 

 to Mr. Hodgson, "red," as stated by Mr. Jerdon. Length 20 

 inches by 2| feet (Hodgson), 19 by 26 inches (Jerdon); of wing 

 9|^ inches, and of tail 8 inches. Weight a pound and a half. 

 " The female," remarks Mr. Hodgson, " is a fourth smaller than 

 her mate, wants almost wholly the rich vinous tint of the male, 

 and is generally more obscurely coloured." 



This diversity of colouring of the sexes reminds us of the Hur- 

 rials ; and it may be remarked, that the general tints are not 

 very different from those of Treron cantillans. The species in- 

 habits the Himalaya and the Neilgherries ; and Captain Phayre 

 has obtained it in the Ya-ma-dong mountains, which separate 

 Arracan from Pegu. It appears to keep always to a more ele- 

 vated region than the next species, as near the snow line of the 

 Himalaya ; and Mr. Hodgson states that it is " almost solitary " 

 in its habits *. 



* Carpophaga insignis. Of this fine sprcies I killed a female (one of 

 a pair, the male of which escaped) at Kuisiong, towards the end of the 

 month of June. It is not common. The pair were perched on a small tree 

 on the summit of the hill, feeding on berries, with which the crop of the 



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