60 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



Adult female. Has the grey and lilac-purple of the male replaced with 

 olive-green, varying a good deal in shade in different individuals, the head 

 generally rather paler and brighter, and the fore-head suffused with yellow. 

 There is no orange on the breast, which is olive-green and shades gradually 

 into the yellow of the abdomen. The under tail-coverts are pale yellowish- 

 buff, more or less suffused ^vith cinnamon, especially on the basal half of the 

 inner webs, and with the shortest ones freckled with dull brovraish-green. 



The colours of the soft parts are the same as in the male, though some 

 females seem to have the legs and feet duller and paler. 



Measurements. The females are very little, if at all smaller than the 

 males. The series I have measured have an average wing of 5.52 in. 

 ( = 140.21 mm.), and the greatest and least length is 6.02 ( = 152.9 mm.) 

 and 5.25 ( = 133.3 mm.) respectively. The tail of both sexes varies very 

 greatly. A female from Manilla has a taU of 4.2 in. ( = 106.7 mm.) whilst 

 another from the same place has one of only 3.4 ( = 86.3 mm.). 



Young male. Resembles the female but assumes the adult plumage 

 in patches after the first autumn-moult. The rufous on the upper tail- 

 coverts is not developed, and the central rectrices are more green. 



Young female " has the rufescent colour of the upper tail coverts scarcely 

 visible and the central tail-feathers are more or less tinged with green " 

 (Salvadori). 



Young birds of both sexes have the iris much duller, and until the first 

 autumn-moult it is generally a dull fleshy-b^o^^•B. 



Despite the great difference in the size of individuals of this species, and 

 the considerable variations in the depths of colouring, and the extent of yellow 

 on the head, I can trace no correlation between this and the differences in their 

 geographical limits. The biggest birds, undoubtedly, do come from Manilla, 

 but overlapping these in size, specimens occur even amongst those obtained 

 furthest away from this place. 



As regards the females from Manilla, it does appear to me that these 

 have the grey tips to the tail-feathers somewhat broader and paler on the 

 whole, and perhaps, also, the fore-head more yellow ; but I do not consider 

 the differences sufficient or sufficiently constant to warrant birds from these 

 islands being separated as another subspecies. 



Salvadori records that he has " seen in the Paris Museum a variety entirely 

 of a canary-yellow." 



Distribution. Salvadori gives the range of the Pink-necked Green 

 Pigeon as " Siam and Cochin China, South of Tenasserim, Malay Peninsula 

 and also Sumatra, Nias, Bangha, Billiton, Java, Sambawa, Borneo, the 

 Phillipines, Sulu Islands, and Celebes." 



Within our limits it is found as far North as Mergui in Tenasserim. 



Davidson records it as very common in Tenasserim in the southern 

 part of that province, and it appears to be equally common in suitable 

 localities, throughout the Malay Peninsula and into Singapore. 



Nidification. At present I know of but one note on this bird's breeding 

 other than those recorded in Hume's Nests and, Eggs. Li this note Major 

 Baker merely says that in Singapore it breeds " from March to May or June ; 

 the usual nest and eggs." 



Davison, in southern Tenasserim, " on tlie 12th June found a nest of this 

 Pigeon in a small vcrj- dense, thorny bush. The nest was of the usual Pigeon 

 and Dove type, consistmg merely of a few dry twigs. It was placed about 



