INDIAN RUFOUS TURTLE-DOVE 191 



slaty-grey, primary-coverts blackish ; quills brown, edged and tipped with 

 pale brownish-white ; lower-throat, breast, and abdomen vinous-red, the breast 

 generally rather darker than elsewhere and sometimes tinged with greyisli ; 

 vent, flanks, tibial plumes, and under tail-coverts rather dark slate-grey. 



Measurements. Length about 13 in. ( = 330 mm.) ; tail 4.6 to 5.2 in. 

 ( = 116.8 to 132 mm.) ; wing 6.40 to 7.20 in. ( = 162.5 to 182.8 mm.) ; average 

 6.92 in. ( = 175.5 mm.) ; bill at front .60 in. ( = 15.2 mm.) and from gape 

 about 1 in. ( = 25.4 mm.) ; tarsus about .8 in. ( = 20.3 mm.). 



Colours of soft 'parts. Bill pale to dark horny-brown, basal half reddish 

 or purplisli ; irides golden-yellow, orange-yellow, orange-red to red ; eyelids 

 and very narrow orbital skin pale bluish or lead-colour with the edges of the 

 eyelids red ; legs dull coral, purple-red, or dull brick-red, the soles paler and 

 the claws nearly black. 



Female similar to the male, but is perhaps less vinous and more brown 

 on the upper-parts on an average. 



Measurements. The same as in the male. In the British Museum 

 Collection there are females witli wings of 7.10 in. from Burma, 7.05 in. from 

 Assam, and 7.30 in. from Darjilmg. 



Young. The whole upper-parts where reddish-brown in the adult are 

 a dark earth-bro'\\*n in the young bird, and the feathers of the lower-back, 

 the scapulars, coverts, and inner secondaries are boldly edged with pale rufous 

 and the qiiills are broadly tipped with a darker, richer tint of the same colour ; 

 the dark grey lower-back and rump are narrowly edged with pale grey, and 

 there are also indications of pale bars on the head. Below, the breast is 

 suffused with smoky-brown, and the feathers of this part are narrowly edged 

 with pale rufous. 



Colours of soft farts. The same as in the adult, but duller, and the iris 

 is a dull whitish-brown. 



Still younger birds have the whole upper-parts a paler, duller brown, 

 this colour replacing even the grey on the rump and upper tail-coverts. 

 Everywhere from fore-head to tail-coverts the feathers are narrowly edged 

 with dull rufous, these bars being almost obsolete on the centre of the back. 

 The coverts and quills of the wing are still more freely edged with pale rufous. 

 Beneath, the throat, breast, and upper-abdomen are pale smoky-brown, each 

 feather narrowly edged with pale yellowish-rufous ; the under wing-coverts, 

 axil laries, and flanks are mixed grey and rufous, the former colour predominating 

 on the posterior flanks. The under tail-coverts are grey as in the adult, but 

 there are two or three very fine bars of black near their ends, and the tips 

 are narrowly edged with rufous. This is the plumage of the young bird on 

 leaving the nest. 



Nestling, in down, is covered with a pale buff down. 



Distribution. Bengal, from as far west as Manbhum, Purulia, and 

 Chutia Nagpur, throughout eastern Bengal, Assam, Cachar, and Sylhet, the 

 Bhutan Dooars and Terai south of it ; and to the east throughout Burma 

 as far as the south of Tenasserim. East of Bengal it has been obtained in 

 Central India, the Deccan north of about 15° N. lat., and has been obtained 

 as a rare straggler in the Central Provinces. There are two specimens in the 

 British Museum Collection from Mahabaleshwar in the Bombay Presidency. 

 Outside India to the north and east its place is taken by Streptopelia turtur 

 orientalis, the next bird. 



