TURTURINJS. 479 



the neck with a patch on each side, nearly meeting, black at the 

 base, rufous tipped, the black hardly apparent except when the 

 neck is stretched. 



Bill blackish ; irides dark broAvn^ with a whitish inner circle ; 

 legs lake-red. Length 10 to 10^ inches ; extent 14 ; wing 5 ; tail 4^. 

 The tail is graduated to upwards of an inch, and the feathers 

 slightly narrowed towards their tips. 



This little Dove is found throughout the greater part of India, 

 not occurring in Ceylon, Malabar, or Lower Bengal, nor in the 

 countries to the eastward ; but very abundant in Central, and 

 especially in Western India, also in Sindh and the Punjab. It is a 

 very familiar bird, entering gardens and feeding on public roads, and 

 close to houses and stables, without any alarm ; but it is also very 

 abundant in all low bushy jungles. It breeds in Southern India 

 at various times, and Huttou records that it visits Mussooree in 

 April, remaining to breed, and departing again in autumn. Its coo, 

 says Blyth, is ' low, subdued, and musical, a dissyllabic sound, 

 repeated four or five times successively,' and of which its Hindu- 

 stani and Tamil names are a sort of imitation. 



Its near ally, T. seyiegalensls or ^Egt/ptiacus is very common 

 in Northern Africa and Western Asia, is called the Palm-dove by 

 some, and swarms in all the oases of the desert. It was formerly 

 considered identical with the Indian species, but differs in being 

 somewhat larger, brighter in colors, and with the rump distinctly 

 ashy. It occurs occasionally in the South of Europe, in Spain, 

 and about Constantinople. Another race, from Bokhara, T. Ermanni, 

 is indicated by Bonaparte. 



37'd, Tigrini — Bonap. 



These Doves have a broad half-collar on the nape, consisting 

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

 round white spot ; the orbits are nude, and the plumage of the 

 wings and upper parts is more or less spotted. 



795. Turtur suratensis, Gmelin. 



Columba, apud Gmelin — Blyth, Cat. 1435 — T. tigrina, 

 Temm., apud Auct.—SYKES, Cat. 140— -Jerdon, Cat. 292— C. 



