OSMOTRERON POMPADORA. 



Key to the Subspecies. 



A. Lower tail-coverts cinnamon or whitish : 



a. Fore-head yellow ... ... ... ... ... 0. p. pompadora. 



b. Fore-head and crown grey : 



a' Grey of head pure, and well defined from sur- 

 rounding parts ... ... ... ... 0. p. phayrei. 



b' Grey of head dull and ill defined ... ... O. p. afftnis. 



J?. Lower tail-coverts largely dark green ... 0. p. chloroptera. 



In order to keep this book as uniform cis possible with the 

 Avifauna of British India, I deal with these subspecies in the same 

 sequence as they are considered in that work. 



As regards the specific name which all four subspecies must bear, 

 we find that the earliest name appUed to any one of these races of 

 Green Pigeons is that of "pompadora," given by Gmelin in 1788 to a 

 Pigeon from Ceylon, called by Brown, in his Illustrations of Birds 

 (1766), the "Pompadour Pigeon." In 1840 Jerdon named the female 

 of the race fomid in the Southern Presidency, Vinago afjinis ; but five 

 years later, m 1845, when describing the male of the same race found 

 in Southern India (Illus. Orn. Pac. C, XXI) he re-names it mala- 

 harica. As there is no law making the name given subsequently to a 

 male take the place of that given to a female at a previous date, 

 afjinis certainly has priority over malabarica, and must stand for the 

 subspecies. The name chlmoptera was given by Blyth in 1845 to 

 the race from the Nicobars and finally, in 1862, the same ornithologist 

 named our northern race phayrei. 



