THICK-BILLED GREEN PIGEON 67 



Vernacular Names. Thoria, Nepalese; Gnu, Burmese; Harial, 

 Bengali and Sylheti ; Lali Haintha, Assamese ; Daorep buku-gajao, 

 Cachari ; Inruigu gaherba, Naga. ; Angee Koll Hurrial, Sylheti. 



Description. — Adult male. Fore-head and lores grey, deepening in 

 colour on the crown and thence changing to olive-green on the nape and 

 neck ; scapulars, interscapulars, back and lesser \ving-coverts chestnut- 

 maroon, palest on the back where it meets the green neck, where also it is 

 often suffused with grey ; rump and upper tail-coverts olive-green, brightest 

 and tinged with golden-yellow on the latter ; central rectrices the same, 

 outer rectrices grey with a band of black across the middle, widest on the 

 outermost ; the two pairs of feathers next the centre pair are also more or less 

 suffused with green, and the others when in perfect condition have a very 

 narrow tei-minal margin of the same. Quills black, the two outer primaries 

 very narrowly margined with yellowish-white at the centre of the outer webs ; 

 innermost secondaries next the scapulars green, and the shoulder of the wing 

 and a few coverts next the maroon also green ; remaining wing-coverts black, 

 with broad yellow edges to the outer webs ; outer secondaries black ^^ith 

 fine yellow borders. Cheeks, ear-coverts and sides of neck and lower-surface 

 olive-green, more yellowish than on the upper -neck, and with the chin and 

 throat still more yellow. In some specimens there is the faintest tinge of 

 fulvous on the breast ; feathers of the posterior flanks, tibial plumes, and 

 about vent darker green mixed with, white ; under tail-coverts cinnamon, 

 the outer ones mixed green and white. 



Colours of soft farts. Irides with two rings, the inner and narrower of deep 

 blue, the outer and broader varying from golden-yellow to orange-red ; orbital 

 skin a vivid verdigris-green ; legs and feet deep lake-pink to coral-red, 

 generally the latter ; bill pale yellowish, or greenish, or less often a leaden- 

 white with a deeper and more distinctly green tip, the base of upper mandible 

 and round gape a bright coral-red. 



Measurements. " Total length about 10.4 in., wing 5.62 to 5.76 ; tail 3.46 

 to 3.35 ; bill 0.6 ; tarsus 0.75 to 0.9 " (Salvadori). 



The series in the British Museum cover a far greater range of variation 

 than is shown in the above. In wing-measurements the males vary from 

 4.90 in. ( = 124.4 mm.) to 5.75 { = 146 mm.), but from these must be eliminated 

 a large number of individuals which belong to a very well-marked subspecies 

 from the south-eastern portion of its range. The average of the northern 

 form is about 5.5 in. ( = 139.7 mm.). 



Adult female. Differs from the male in having no trace of maroon on 

 the upper-plumage and in having the under tail-coverts pale buff with dull 

 olive-green bars on the longest and olive-green bases to the shorter feathers. 



Colours of soft farts. Similar to the same in the male, but the verdigris 

 blue-green of the bare orbital skin is not so bright. 



Measurements. The series of skins in the collection of the British Museum 

 show that the female is, on an average, no smaller than the male, the wing 

 being about, or a trifle over 5.5 in. ( = 139.7 mm.). 



Young male. Similar to the female, but getting a small amount of 

 maroon on the upper-plumage in the first autumn-moult. 



Nestling. Like the adult female, but everywhere more grey and duller 

 and with the lower-parts an oily grey -green. The iris is pale grey-brown, 

 the skin of the face a livid-grey, and the bill whitish with the terminal third 

 bluish, and the basal portion a livid-pink. 



F 2 



