(34) ALSOCOMUS PUNICEUS Tickell. 



THE PURPLE WOOD-PIGEON. 

 (Plate 18.) 



Alsocomus puniceus Tickell, in Blyth's J.A.S.B., XI p. 461 (1842) ; Blyth, 

 Cat. B.M.A.S.B., p. 233; Layard, Ann. and Mag. N.H., XIV p. 58; 

 Jerdon, B.I., III p. 469 ; Ball, Str. Feath., II p. 424 ; Blyth and Wald., 

 B. Burma, p. 145 ; Godw.-Aus., J.A.S.B., XLIII pt. 2 p. 171 ; Armstrong, 

 Str. Feath, IV p. 337 ; Hume and Dav., ib., VI p. 418 ; Ball, ib., VII 

 p. 224 ; Hume, Str. Feath., VIII pp. 109, 157 ; id., Cat. no. 782 ; Gates, 

 Str. Feath., VIII p. 167 ; Bingh., ib., p. 196 ; Legge, B. Cey., p. 696 ; 

 Hume and InglLs, Str. Feath., IX p. 258 ; Gates, ib., X p. 235 ; id., 

 B. Brit. Burm^a, II p. 289 ; Hume, Str. Feath., XI p. 296 ; Gates, in 

 Hume's Nests and Eggs, 2nd ed., II p. 345 ; Blanf., Avi. Brit. I., IV 

 p. 38 ; Stuart Baker, J.B.N.H.S., X p. 359 ; Inglis, ib., XI p. 474 ; Stuart 

 Baker, ib., XIII p. 568; Hopwood, ib., XVIII p. 433; Harington, 

 ib., XIX p. 365 ; id., B. Burma, p. 67. 



Columha punicea Blyth, J.A.S.B., XIV pp. 867, 878 ; Salvadori, Cat. B.M., 

 XXI p. 306; Sharpe, Hand-List, I p. 71. 



Vernacular Names. Lali Pagooma, Assamese ; Daohukuruma Koro- 

 gophu, Cachari. 



Description. — Adult male. Wliole upper part of head from fore-head to 

 nape, together w ith a narrow line below the bare orbital skin, greyish-white ; 

 sides of head and neck dull, rather pale chestnut-brown, greyish next the 

 base of the lower mandible, and ^vith the black bases of the neck-feathers 

 often showing through on the upper-neck ; back and scapulars rich, deep 

 chestnut, the feathers broadly edged with brilliant green and amethyst, the 

 former predominating on the shoulders where their broad edges cover the 

 whole of the visible plumage, and the amethyst covering the upper-back 

 and interscapulars and showing as bars on the lower- back ; rump and upper 

 taU-coverts deep slaty-grey, almost black, and margined witli amethyst, 

 except on the longest taU-coverts ; taU blackish-brown. Wliole of the visible 

 portion of the wing-coverts ricli chestnut-brown, the lesser and median -coverts 

 narrowly edged with metallic amethyst ; edge of wing and greater primary- 

 coverts blackish-brown ; quills blackish-brown, the second primary narrowly 

 edged with pale brown, this edging decreasing in extent until it disappears 

 on the 5th or 6th primary. Innermost secondaries like the back. Breast, 

 abdomen, flanks, axillaries and under wing-coverts a pale and rather vinous- 

 chestnut, darker about the vent and tibial plumes ; the breast is overlaid 

 with a faint iridescent green sheen ; under tail-coverts bro^vnish-black, 

 paler than the tail itself. 



Colours of soft parts. Irides creamy-yellow, orange-yellow to orange-red, 

 the eyelids bright, almost carnation-red and the orbital skin a duller purplish - 

 pink. Bill greenish or bluish-horny from tip to nostril and the angle of the 

 gonys, and thence to the fore-head and lores, including cere, a sanguineous- 

 pink. Legs and feet purple-red, the soles paler and the claws horny-wliite. 



" Iris bloodshot amber ; bill vinous-purple at base, remainder greenish 

 white ; legs carnation, claws white " (Wardlaw Ramsay). " Claws pale 

 yellow " (Jerdon). 



Measurements. Total length about 16 in. ( = 406 mm.) ; wing from 

 8.3 in. ( = 210.8 mm.) to 9.3 in. ( = 236.2 mm.) with an average of 8.8 in. 



