250 Sir R. H. Schomburgk on the Birds of Siam. 



I found this beautiful Pigeon likewise while ascending the 

 Menam, about 300 miles north of Bangkok. I have never seen 

 a speciuien kept in a cage. 



There was another handsome Pigeon at Xiengmai, certainly 

 dressed in less vivid colours than the preceding, but much larger 

 in size. The head, neck, and rump are of a pale Indian red; 

 on both parts of the neck there are a number of small feathers, 

 black at their base, light blue at their upper edge, which, ac- 

 cording as the light falls upon them, shine more or less brightly. 

 The mantle is black, the feathers composing it being edged 

 with Indian red, extending thence to the coverlets of the wing ; 

 the anterior part of the mantle is of a slate-blue, and the fea- 

 thers approaching the tail increase in depth of colour, their edges 

 being a shade lighter. 



13. CoLUMBA INTERMEDIA, Strickland. (Nock kirap.) 

 I must not omit, when speaking of Pigeons, the Blue Pigeons 

 which are found in such large numbers in the " wats,'^ or Siamese 

 temples, where they are held almost as sacred as were the Geese 

 of the Capitolium. I have some hesitation in pronouncing them 

 the offspring of Columba livia^ though there is much similarity 

 between them. In almost every " wat " in Siam there is a 

 tower of greater or smaller size, with numerous holes for the 

 accommodation of the Pigeons. There they are allowed to make 

 their nests and multiply. The " talpoins,^' or priests, forbidden 

 by their religion to kill any living creature, respect the Pigeons 

 almost more than any other of the feathered tribe. But food 

 they do not get from the priests ; they must look out for them- 

 selves in that respect, and they prey upon the rice-fields when 

 the fruits of the Indian fig-trees and those of others that give 

 them berries no longer supply them. Though they become con- 

 sequently depredators upon the cultivation of man, this does 

 not lessen their being generally privileged to an asylum within 

 the " wat." It is but seldom that the priests give permission 

 to shoot Pigeons within the "^ wats." 



A few days previous to my arrival in Bangkok some European 

 gentlemen entered a " wat " with permission, as they understood, 

 from the priests to shoot Pigeons within its precincts. They 

 were mistaken ; for a party that, previous to their arrival, had 



