CEYLON PIGEONS AND GAME BIRDS. 359 
COLUMBA INTERMEDIA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 29; 
Legge, p. 698). 
The Indian Rock Pigeon. 
Description —Head slate-gray ; neck glossed all round with 
metallic green changing into purple, especially on the lower 
hind-neck and upper breast; back and wings ashy-gray ; 
rump, upper tail coverts, and tail darker, the tail being 
broadly tipped with black. There is a black bar across the 
greater wing coverts, also a second black bar formed by 
the tips of the secondaries, together with a broad band on 
the tertiaries ; primaries grayish-brown ; under plumage dark 
slate-gray ; wing lining whitish. 
Bill black, the cere grayish-white ; iris brownish-orange ; 
legs and feet pinkish-red. 
Length 13°25 ; wing 8°75 ; tail 4°75 ; tarsus 1:1; bill from 
gape |. 
Distribution —In Ceylon very local; confined to a few 
colonies on rocky islets off the coasts of the Trincomalee 
District and of the Southern Province, and on one or two of 
the isolated hills in the northern forest tract. This Pigeon, 
which is merely the eastern form of the European Rock Pigeon 
C. livia, and which is classified by Stuart Baker as a sub- 
species C. livia intermedia, is found practically all over India, 
especially in the west and north-west, and in the drier parts 
of Burma. 
Habits—This species roosts and breeds in colonies in the 
crevices of cliffs and rocks. It feeds on grain, especially 
paddy. In India it is commonest in cultivated country, and 
it is strange that it is not more abundant in this Island. 
According to Legge, in the Trincomalee District it breeds in 
May and June, but off the Hambantota coast [ have taken the 
eggs in February. The nests were placed in the jagged rifts 
of a low rocky islet, and consisted of a few twigs mixed with 
some dry grass and feathers. The eggs are a smooth glossy 
white, their average measurement being about 1°45 by 
1°12. 
11 6(7)17 
