Mr. E. Blyth's Drafts for a Fauna Indica. 181 



T. RisoRius : Col. risoria, Linn. {Kdlhak, Kahdldk, Kahalaki, 

 or Pdnr G'hooffo, Beng. ; Dhor Fachtah, S. India.) (Gray Tur- 

 tle-dove.) Uniform light gray-brown; the edge of the wing 

 and lower tail-coverts pure ashy, somewhat deeper on the latter ; 

 head delicate pale vinous- gray, whiter on the forehead and throat ; 

 the nape and under-parts less ashy and more vinaceous, passing 

 to light grayish towards the vent ; a narrow black half- collar on 

 the hind-neck; primaries dusky, with slight whitish margins 

 bordering their tips ; and closed tail uniform with the back above, 

 all but its middle feathers successively more distinctly marked 

 with black about the middle, passing into grayish on the basal 

 half, and to white on the terminal, successively more strongly 

 pronounced. Irides crimson ; bare orbital skin white ; bill black ; 

 feet dark pinkish-red. Length 13 inches by 20 or a trifle less; 

 wing 6i inches, or sometimes rather more. 



Common and generally diffused, frequenting hedges and trees 

 in the neighbourhood of cultivation, and even low bush-jungle : 

 it inclines more to be gregarious than the other species. To the 

 eastward however it seems to be unknown in Arracan. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Strickland, the identical species occurs in Northern 

 Africa ; and it is likewise stated to inhabit the south-eastern part 

 of Europe, as Hungary, Turkey, and the islands of the Lower 

 Danube*. In Southern Africa it is replaced by a nearly-allied 

 species, the Col. vinacea, Gmelin, to which Mr. G. R. Gray refers 

 T. erythrophrys of Swainson, while Mr. Strickland identifies the 

 latter with T. risorius, and considers T. semitorquatus of Swain- 

 son to be the vinacea f. Mr. Gray, again, does not mention 

 semitorquatus of Swainson, but gives semitorquatus, Riippell, as 

 distinct from either. T. vinaceus is distinguished from T. riso- 

 rius by its generally much darker colour, by having the under 

 tail-coverts whitish instead of deep ash, by its much broader 

 black nuchal semi-collar, and by its winglet and primary coverts 

 being dusky instead of pale ash-gray. It is also rather smaller 

 than the Indian species; in which respect, and in the breadth of 

 the nuchal half-collar, the common tame cream-coloured (or pale 

 buff-backed) doves, which are abundantly bred in captivity both 

 in Europe and in India, agree with the South African rather than 

 with the wild Indian species. As for Swainson's two alleged 

 species, I can identify neither of them satisfactorily ; his figure 



naiTowed on both webs near the tip (a character which does not exist in 

 Turtur), and I therefore consider humeralis to be a true GeopeUa. — H.E. S. 



* Bull, de I'Acad. des Sciences de Saint Petersburg, 1837, No. 46; as 

 quoted in the Rev. Zool. par la Soci^te Cuvi6rienne, 1838, p. 293. 



t Vide Strickland in Ann. & Mag. N. H. 1844, p. 38 ; Gray's illustrated 

 'Genera of Birds'; and Swainson 's 'Birds of West Africa/ vol. ii., Nat. 

 Libr. 



