44 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



Dimensions much the same as in the male. The females in the British 

 Museum series have an average wing-measurement of 6.93 in. ( = 176.0 mm.). 



Young male of the year is always smaller than the adult, and has the 

 purple-maroon of the upper-parts imperfectly developed. 



Dr. Richmond (I.e.) separates the birds inhabiting the Andamans from 

 those inhabiting the Nicobars on account of their smaller size and general 

 darker colour both above and below. He says that " the pigeon from the 

 Andamans is similar to 0. chloroptera from the Nicobars, but rather smaller, 

 colour somewhat darker below ; breast and sides deeper yellowish-green, 

 and under tail-coverts more yellowish. The throat is yellower than in 

 0. chloroptera." 



Dr. Richmond appears to have obtained only three females of the Andaman 

 form, and a very careful examination of a larger series than that examined 

 by him shows that the grounds upon which he creates his new subspecies 

 do not hold good. 



The biggest male in the British Museum collection is a bird with a wing 

 of 182.9 mm. from the Nicobars, whilst the biggest female is a bird from the 

 Andamans. On the other hand, the smallest male birds in the collection 

 are two with wings of 171.4 mm., of which one comes from the Nicobars and 

 the other from the Andamans. 



As regards coloration, I can see no differences that are not individual 

 only, and dark and light coloured birds are found equally often in either 

 group of islands. I think therefore the subspecies Osmotreron chloroptera 

 andamanensis must be suppressed. 



Distribution. The Andamans and Nicobar Islands. 



Nidification. Beyond the facts noted below, which would lead one 

 to infer that May and June are probably two of its breeding-months, we 

 know nothing about its nidification, and its nest and eggs have yet to be 

 discovered. 



There is practically nothing on record about the habits of this 

 form of Green Pigeon. Davison, in Stray Feathers, has the following 

 short note : " This Hurrial is exceedingly abundant, both at the 

 Andamans and Nichobars, more so at the former than at the latter 

 place. It is always in flocks, keeping generally to the larger forest 

 trees during the heat of the day, but coming into gardens and clearings, 

 or wherever there may be trees with fruit, in the morning and evening. 

 Its fine clear whistling note (very like, but more powerful than that 

 of 0. malabarica) is one of those most frequently heard in the jungles 

 about Port Blair. A few days before leaving Port Blair for Calcutta 

 I noticed one of these Pigeons with a twig in its bill fly into the top of 

 a tall slender tree standing just on the outskirts of the forest. This 

 was in May, so it is probable that these birds breed during that 

 and the following month." Messrs. B. B. Osmaston and A. L. Butler 

 both record the bird as beihg abundant in the Andamans, and the 



