364 SPOLIA ZEYLANICA. 
Bill black ; iris crimson ; legs and feet purple-red. 
Length 12°25; wing 6°5; tail5; tarsus °9 ; bill from gape °9. 
Ceylon birds are slightly smaller than Indian. 
Distribution —Confined to the dry north-west coast district 
from Jaffna to Puttalam. Within these limits it is fairly 
common. It occurs in open country nearly all over India, 
except on the Malabar coast. The Burmese form is separated 
by Stuart Baker as a sub-species—T'urtur (streptopelia) risoria 
xanthocycla. 
Habits —Found in open country dotted with scrub jungle ; 
it is especially fond of places in which Euphorbia trees are 
abundant. ‘The note is much deeper than that of the Ash 
Dove, and consists of three syllables, ‘‘ kookoo—koo,” 
repeated two or three times. It feeds principally on grain, 
but sometimes on fruit. The nest is the usual small saucer of 
twigs placed generally in Euphorbia trees from 5 to 15 feet above 
the ground. The two white eggs measure about 1°14 by -90. 
CENOPOPELIA TRANQUEBARICA (Blanford, Vol. IV., p. 47). 
TURTUR TRANQUEBARICUS (Legge, p. 708). 
The Red Turtle Dove. 
Description—Male : upper part of the head and neck dark 
ashy-gray ; a black collar round the sides and back of the 
neck ; back, scapulars, wing coverts and innermost secondaries, 
together with the greater part of the lower plumage, vinous- 
red, paler on the breast and fore-neck; primary coverts 
and quills blackish-brown ; lower back, rump, and upper 
tail coverts dark slate-gray ; the middle tail feathers brown 
tinged with gray, the next feathers dark gray at the base 
and with pale ends, the outermost pair being black at the 
base with the whole outer web and the end half of the inner 
web white. Chin and vent whitish, flanks and wing lining ° 
very pale gray ; under tail coverts white. 
Female: the upper plumage is brown; the black collar 
and colouring of the tail as in the male; the forehead and 
crown, the rump, flanks, and edge of the wing are grayish, 
and the breast brownish-gray, often with a vinous tinge. 
Young birds resemble females, but have no collar, while 
the feathers of the back and wings have pale edges. 
