(26) COLUMBA RUPESTRIS Pall. 



THE BLUE HILL-PIGEON. 

 (Plate 12.) 



Columha oenas, var. C. rupestris, Pall., Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., I p. 560, t. 35 



(1811). 



Columba rupestris Bp.. Con. Av., II p. 48 ; Jerdon, B.I., III p. 420 ; 

 Stoliczka, J.A.S.B., XXXVII pt. 2 p. 66; Hume, Str. Feath., 

 VIII p. 110; id., Cat. no. 789; Sharpe, Yarkand JVIiscel. Av., p. 116; 

 Salvadori, Cat. B.M., XXI p. 250 ; Blanf., Avi. Brit. I., IV p. 30 ; 

 Sharpe, Hand-List, I p. 68 ; Ward, J.B.N.H.S., XVII p. 943 ; Perreau, 

 ib., XIX p. 919; Bailey, ib., XXI pp. 182-3. 



Columha livia Adams, P.Z.S. 1858, p. 497 ; id. ib. 1859, p. 187. 



Columha rupicola Pall., Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., I p. 562 ; Hume and Hend., 

 Lah. to Yark., p. 273 ; Scully, Str. Feath., IV p. 176. 



Vernacular Names. — Ydivd Kahtar, Turld. ; Angoa, Oron, Tibetan. 



Description. — Adult male. Wliole head, chin, throat, and nape dark 

 dove-grey ; hind-neck and shoulders still darker grey, glossed ^-ith green, 

 and to a much less extent with purple, though the comparative amount of the 

 two varies in different lights. Upper-back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and 

 innermost secondaries pure dove-grey, much lighter than that of tlie head ; 

 quills grey, tinged with brown on the outer webs and the tips and edge of the 

 inner webs ; shafts dark hair-brown. 



Lower-back white, rump and upper tail-coverts dark plumbeous-grey 

 like the head, but often still darker ; tail dark slate-grey, the tip darker 

 than the base and a broad white band across the middle, outermost pair of 

 feathers white on the base and middle of the other weh ; breast vinous-grey 

 tinged with purple lustre next the neck, and changmg gradually to a lighter 

 dove-grey on the lower-breast, flanks, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts ; 

 under wing-coverts white except on the edge of the wing, which is grey ; 

 axillaries %vhite. 



Colours of soft parts. Iris orange-red, golden-red, or deep orange-yellow ; 

 bill almost black with a tinge of plumbeous or livid flesh-colour on cere ; legs 

 and feet coral or lobster-red, rather darker in front than behind, with the 

 soles paler and the claws horny-black or horny-broim. " Irides blood-red, 

 straw colour at pupillary margin " (Scully). 



Measurements. Total length 13 to 14 in. ( = 3.30 to 355 mm.). The 

 average wdng-measurement of sixty-three birds is exactly 9in. ( = 228.6 mm.), 

 and the greatest length is 9.60 in. ( = 243.6 mm.) in a bird from Tibet, 

 unsexed, and the least is 8.50 in. ( = 215.9 mm.) in a bird, also unsexed, from 

 China. 



The average length of wing in birds which have been sexed as males 

 is 9.25 in. ( = 235.9 mm.), and the greatest and least length are tlie same as 

 those already given. 



