322 colitmbid^:. 



pale brown ; bill yellow, shaded towards the base with dusky olive ; 

 legs olive, shaded yellow " (fide Shelley). Total length about 14 

 inches, wing 8-8, tail 6-3, bill 0-78, tarsus l'l. 



Some specimens have the feathers of the underparts very slightly 

 edged with rufous, and occasionally the feathers of the breast have 

 a faint buff spot at the tip of the inner web, reminding one to a 

 certain extent of the spotted plumage of C. arquatrix. 



Hah. Comoro Islands — Great Comoro, Mayotte, and Anjuan. 



a. Imm. sk. Gt. Comoro. Purchased. 



b, c. Ad. et imm. sk. Anjuan Is. (Kirk). Shelley Coll. 



d. Ad. sk. Anjuan Is. (Beivsher). Salvin-Godman Coll. 



56. Columba nigrirostris *. 



Coluniba nigrirostris, Sclat. P. Z. 8. 1859, p. 390 (Oaxaca, Mexico) ; 

 Sclat. # Salv. P. Z. S. 1864, p. 370; Salv. Ibis, 1865, p. 195 

 (Guatemala), 1866, p. 206, 1867, p. 280 (Mosquitia) ; id. P. Z. S. 



* Columba plumbea and its Allies. 



Besides Columba plumbea, Vieill., from Brazil, five other allied birds have 

 been described as distinct, viz. : — 



1st. C. nigrirostris, Sclat., from Oaxaca, Mexico, and Central America as far 

 as Panama ; 



2nd. C. subvinacea, Lawr., from Costa Eica to Ecuador ; 



3rd. C. vinucea, Temm., from Cayenne ; 



4th. C. jiurpiireotincta, Kidgw., from British Guiana; and 



oth. O. plumbea, subsp. bogotensis, Berl. & Leverk., from Bogota. 



The first two have each a well-defined range and can be easily recognized — 

 the first by its thiekish bill and rufous tinge on inner webs of the quills, and 

 the second, which also has the rufous tinge on the inner webs of the quills, 

 by the brown-cinnamon colour of the back and wings. As to C. purpureo- 

 tincta, Kidgw., from British Guiana, of which there is a good series in the 

 British Museum, there is not the least doubt that it is the same as C. vinacea, 

 Temm., from Cayenne, of which I have seen the type in the Museum of Paris. 

 In the British Museum there are several specimens from Bogota, which I 

 suppose belong to C. plumbea, var. bogotensis, Berl. & Leverk., but 1 have failed to 

 discover how they can be distinguished from those from Brazil, Ecuador, 

 Upper Amazons, and other localities. 



Now comes the question as to whether C. plumbea and C. vinacea are really 

 distinct. I may mention that Pelzeln, from an inspection of a number of 

 specimens, was inclined to consider C. vinacea simply as a variety of C. plumbea, 

 and that Graf von Berlepsch (J. f. O. 1874, p. 242) seems to be rather 

 uncertain on this point. Mr. Salvin and myself, who have looked very care- 

 fully into the subject, have been unable, after examining about thirty specimens 

 from Brazil Guiana, Upper Amazons, Ecuador, and Bolivia, to find that they 

 belone to more than one species, extremely variable in size, in the more or less 

 bright colouring, in the rufous tinge on the inner webs of the quills being often 

 absent, and even in the reddish spots on the feathers of the hind neck, which while 

 very distinct in some specimens, especially females, are in others evanescent. It 

 is worth while noticing that traces of the same spots are also to be found in some 

 specimens of C. subvinacea, while in the majority they are altogether wanting. I 

 do not pretend that my theory is correct; I merely wish to say that, with the 

 materials at my command, I have been unable to draw the line between the 

 different races or species admitted. I also wish to point out that Temminck's 

 name C. vinacea cannot stand, there being already a C. vinacea, 6m., and that 

 the substitute name < '. bicolor, Vieill. (nee Scop.), fails on the same ground. 



