THE BIRDS OF NORTHERN THAILAND 153 



This turtle dove is decidedly uncommon and is perhaps locally mi- 

 gratory. At Chiang Mai I recorded it only in March, May, and Au- 

 gust. In Stockholm are two undated specimens taken by Eisenhofer 

 at Khun Tan, and a female collected by Fejos at Huai Mae Ta Man, 

 March 25, 1938. Smith took a male at Mae Hong Son, January 7, and 

 noted that it was "rare and wild." The same collector got two at 

 Chiang Dao, February 1. I collected three at Doi Mae Kong Ka, Oc- 

 tober 17 and 18, and took a female at Ban Na Noi (Nan Province), 

 April 2. 



While the closely related spotted-necked dove abounds in cultivated 

 districts, the rufous dove is largely confined to the dry, deciduous 

 forest, only occasionally visiting the nearby fields. I sometimes saw 

 it in the dry scrub on the lower slopes of Doi Suthep and suspected that 

 a /Streptopelia that occurred in the hill-forest at 3,800 feet might be 

 this species, although I was never able to prove it. It is a shy pigeon 

 and difficult to collect. 



My specimen from Ban Na Noi had the ovaries slightly enlarged. 



Smith records that his examples had the irides reddish brown ; the 

 bill, feet, and toes purple. According to the label, Fejos's bird in 

 Stockholm had the "eye light green" (the orbital skin may be meant), 

 and it should be remembered that Asiatic collectors do not always 

 carefully distinguish between green and blue. 



The adult has the crown vinaceous, suffused with gray ; at each side 

 of the neck a patch of black feathers with ashy-gray edges; the upper 

 back dull brownish, each feather edged with dull rufous ; the scapulars 

 blackish, edged with bright rufous; the lower back and rump slaty 

 gray ; the rectrices blackish, all except the central pair broadly tipped 

 with gray; the quills blackish; the upper wing coverts gray, those 

 of the shoulder area blackish and edged with bright rufous ; the under- 

 pays vinaceous, paler on the throat, and changing to soft gray on the 

 flanks and under tail coverts. 



Schomburgk's remarks on the unknown "Pigeon at Xiengmai" seem 

 to be the earliest scientific record of any bird from our provinces. 

 While it was surmised by Blyth (Ibis, 1867, p. 149) and Salvadori 

 (loc. cit.) to be a form of Columba pulchricollis, I think that there 

 can be no doubt that the present species is concerned. 



STREPTOPELIA CHINENSIS TIGRINA (Temminck) 



Malaysian Spotted-necked Dove 



Columba Tigrina Temminck, in Knip, Les pigeons, vol. 1, 1810, Les colombes, 

 p. 94, pi. 43 (Timor, Batavia; type specimens from Java, fide Peters). 



Streptopelia suratensis tigrina, Gyldenstolpe, Journ. Nat. Hist. Soc. Siam, 

 1915, p. 235 (listed) ; Kungl. Svenska Vet.-Akad. Handl., 1916, p. 149 (Ban 

 Mae Na, Tha Chompu, Khun Tan, Doi Pha Sakaeng) ; Ibis, 1920, p. 742 

 ("Throughout the whole country"). 



