362 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
The face and throat are pale ashy-brown, the chin and centre 
of the throat almost white ; neck and breast vinous-gray ; 
abdomen whitish ; flanks and wing lining ashy-blue, under 
tail coverts pure white. 
Young birds have no neck patch, and are duller brown, 
while the feathers of the back, wing coverts, and breast have 
pale borders. 
Bill dull slate-colour, the cere and base reddish ; iris light 
orange ; legs and feet dull or purplish-red. 
Length 13; wing about 7°25; tail 5°25; tarsus °85; bill 
from gape °95. 
Distribution —Stragglers have been recorded from Ceylon 
twice. The species is migratory, spreading in winter over 
nearly the whole of India, and breeding in the Himalayas and 
Central Asia. Stuart Baker regards it as a sub-species of 
Turtur (streptopelia) turtur, the European Turtle Dove. 
Habits —The bird may be looked for about Christmas time 
in the wetter districts of the Island. Its habits are very much 
those of the common Ash Dove. 
TURTUR SURATENSIS (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 43 ; 
Legge, p. 705). 
The Spotted Dove ; Ash Dove. 
Description —The upper part of the head and nape are 
vinous-gray, grayer on the forehead and above the eye; a 
black spot between the eye and the bill; the sides and back 
of the neck are black, each feather bifurecate and with two 
white spots on each fork. On the upper back the black 
ground-colour shades into brown and the white spots into 
rufous, while the feathers become less forked ; on the lower 
back and rump the spots are replaced by pale rufous fringes. 
The scapulars and wing coverts are brown at the base and 
grayish-rufous at the tip, with wedge-shaped black-brown 
shaft-stripes ; primary and greater wing coverts bluish-gray 
with some brown; wing quills blackish-brown. The tail 
coverts are ash-brown, the tips marked with a dark central 
wedge and paler fringes on each side. The four central tail 
feathers are brown, the remainder almost black, with slate- 
gray ends becoming paler and broader on the outer feathers. 
