184 Mr. E. Blyth's Di^afts for a Fauna Jndica. 



towards the nortli in every garden, and frequenting stable-yards, 

 houses, &c/^ Like T. risorius, it is common to India and North 

 Africa ; and Mr. Strickland states that it " inhabits the Turkish 

 burial-grounds at Smyrna and Constantinople, which are dense 

 forests of cypress-trees. It is strictly protected by the Turks, 

 and it was with some difficulty,^^ he adds, '^ that I could obtain 

 a specimen. It was perhaps originally introduced there by man, 

 but now seems completely naturalized*.^^ The coo of this spe- 

 cies is low, subdued and musical, a dissyllabic sound repeated 

 four or five times successively, and of which its Hindoostanee 

 name Tortroo is a sort of imitation +. 



T. suRATENSis : Col. suratensis, Gmelin, founded on la Tour- 

 tei'elle de Surate of Sonnerat : C. tigrina, Temminck : C. turtur, 

 Linn., var., figured in Griffith's ' Animal Kingdom,' viii. 290. 

 (Chitroka Fachtah, Hind. ; Chanral G'hoogoOj or Telia G^hoogoo, 

 Beng. ; Kangskiri, Bhagulpore ; Chitla, Upper Provinces ; Lay- 

 hyouky Arracan.) (Speckled Turtle-dove.) Above blackish 

 or dusky, each feather having two pale rufous terminal spots, 

 which latter enlarge and spread up each side of the feather, upon 

 the wing-coverts, the blackish contracting to a central streak, 

 with broad pale vinaceous lateral borders ; edge of the wing light 

 gray ; head grayish, tinged with vinaceous, which latter prevails 

 on the breast and under-parts, passing to white on the belly and 

 under tail-coverts ; a broad half-collar on the nape, consisting of 

 black feathers divergent at the tips, each tip ending in a small 

 round white spot ; tail broad and graduated to the depth of an 

 inch and a half or more, each feather attenuating towards its tip ; 

 the middle tail-feather brown, the outermost grayish-white for 

 nearly the terminal half, having the rest black, and the other 

 tail-feathers successively intermediate in their colouring. Irides 

 dark hazel, surrounded by a reddish sclerotica ; beak dull leaden- 

 black j legs dark purplish-red. Length 12 inches by 16^ ; of 

 wing 5f inches ; female rather less. 



A very familiar species, and generally difiused both throughout 

 India and in the Malay countries, coming very much into gardens 

 even of large towns. It abounds even more than T. risorius in 

 the vicinity of Calcutta, where it inhabits every patch of garden ; 

 T. risorius keeping generally a little away from houses. Its coo 

 is musical and pleasing. Mr. Jerdon mentions having " seen a 

 nearly albino variety once or twice of a pinkish-white colour 

 throughout.'' This species has been erroneously identified with 



♦ Proc. Zool. Soc. 1836, p. 100. 



"[ African and European specimens are larger than the Indian ones, the 

 wing measuring 5f inches. 1 have one from the Cape of Good Hope, iden- 

 tical with a Turkish specimen, and more rufous on the back than the Indian 

 bird.— H. E. S. 



