(24) COLUMBA LIVIA LIVIA (Bonn.). 

 THE BLUE ROCK-PIGEON. 



Columba livia Briss., Orn., I p. 82 (1760). 



Columba oenas Linn, (part), Syst. Nat., I p. 279. 



Columba domestica Lath., Ind. Orn., II p. 589. 



Columba domestica livia id. ib., p. 590. 



Columba livia Bonn., Encycl. Meth., I p. 227 (1790) ; Blytli, Cat. B.M.A.S.B., 



no. 233 (part) ; id., J.A.S.B., XIV p. 861 ; Hume, Str. Feath., I p. 218 ; 



Blanf., East Persia, II p. 268 ; Cripps, Str. Feath., VII p. 296 ; Hume, 



ib.,VIII p. 109 ; id., Cat. no. 788, bis ; Barnes, Str. Feath., IX p. 457 ; 



id., B. Bom., p. 289 ; Salvadori, Cat. B.M., XXI p. 252 ; Blanf., Avi. 



Brit. I., IV p. 30 ; Sharpe, Hand-List Bkds, I p. 69 ; Oates, Cat. Eggs 



B.M., I p. 87 ; Barnes. J.B.N.H.S., V p. 330 ; Rattray, ib., XII p. 344 ; 



Inglis, ib., XIV ; p. 561 ; Marshall, ib., XV p. 352 ; Nicol Gumming. 



ib., XVI p. 691 ; Ward, ib., XVII p. 943 ; Perreau, ib., XIX p. 919 ; 



Whitehead, ib., XX p. 966. 

 Columba affinis Blyth, J.A.S.B., XIV p. 862. 

 Columba neglecta Hume, Lah. to Yark., p. 272 (1873) ; id., Str. Feath., 



I p. 218 ; Severtz, ib., Ill p. 430. 

 Columba spelaea Hume, Lah. to Yark., p. 273. 



Vernacular Names. Kabutar, Hin. ; Konturam, Pushtu. 



Description. — Adult mule. Head dark purple-grey ; nape, neck all 

 round, upper-breast and the extreme upper part of the interscapulary region 

 dark grey glossed with brilliant metallic purple and green, according to the 

 light in which it is held. Upper-back ashy-grey grading gradually into white 

 on the lower-back, where the white forms a broad band, about 2 in. deep ; 

 rump and upper tail-coverts dark grey, generallj' a little darker than the 

 upper-back ; tail dark grey like the rump with a broad black band across 

 the end leaving only a naiTow final tip of grey. The outermost rectrices ^^-ith 

 a broad border of white on the outer web between the base and the black 

 band. Wing-coverts and innermost secondaries grey, of tlie same shade as 

 the back, with two broad bars of black, the first formed by the black bases 

 of the greater coverts and a second by the innermost secondaries M'hich are 

 mostly black or blackish-brown, though with the concealed bases and the 

 tips grey ; primaries brownish-grey, paler on the inner webs except at the 

 tips. Lower-parts slaty-grey, darkest on the breast ; under \^ing-coverts and 

 axillaries white,'jthe former more or less suffused with very pale grey. 



Colour of soft farts S " Iris orange red ; bill vinous slate colour, inclining 

 to white on the cere ; legs red " (Salvadori). 



Measurements. "JTotal length 11 in., wing 8.7 in., tail 4.6 in., bill .79 in., 

 tarsus 1.2 in." (Salvadori). 



According to Hume, who measured a very big series of British birds. 



