PALUMBUS. 347 



two nearly fresh eggs (which he very kindly sent to me) in the 

 Agrore Valley, at an elevation of perhaps 2500 feet. The nest 

 was a large loosely-huilt twig platform, built on a branch of a fir- 

 tree near the trunk, about 30 feet up the tree. 



Erom Murree Colonel C. H. T. Marshall records that "two nests 

 of this species were taken about the middle of June. They breed 

 in the Valley of the Jhelum, at a low elevation, in dense thorny 

 jungles. The egg resembles that of the Euglish Wood-Pigeon ; 

 size 1-65 by 1-15."" 



The late Captain Cock wrote : — " Captain Marshall and myself 

 found this bird breeding near Murree in June. It makes the usual 

 type of nest placed on bushes or small trees, never, according to 

 our experience, at any great height from the ground ; I should say 

 that 12 feet was the usual height. The eggs are white and very 

 large." 



Major AVardlaw Ramsay says, writing of Afghanistan : — " The 

 Himalayan Cushat is not generally common in the Hariab Dis- 

 trict. In one spot, however, in the pine-forest between the main 

 range of the Safed-Koh and the village of Ali Kheyl a large flock 

 could always be found in the month of April. By the middle of 

 the next mouth they had all paired. I found several nests, but 

 was not able to obtain the eggs.*' 



And Lieut. H. E. Barnes, also writing from Afghanistan, 

 says : — " I did nob see the Cushat until mid^^'inte^, when they 

 appeared in vast flocks, and continued abuudant until the com- 

 mencement of June, when they retired to the hills and conuuenced 

 breeding. The eggs are small for the size of the bird, only measur- 

 ing 1*53 by 1*13. They are pure white, without the slightest 

 tint of ivory, and are fairly glossy." 



The few eggs of this species that I possess are very similar to, 

 but as a rule slightly smaller than, those of the European AVood- 

 Pigeon (P. palumhus). The eggs are scarcely larger than those of 

 G. intermedia, but they are longer and narrower, much more elon- 

 gated ovals, in fact, than those of this latter species. The eggs are, 

 of course, pure white, with only in some specimens the faintest 

 possible creamy tinge, and they have a fine gloss. The shells are 

 not Aery fine, but exhibit over the whole surface an infinite 

 number of minute pores, similar to, but far less conspicuous thau, 

 those of the eggs of so many of the Game-birds. 



In length they vary from 1-53 to 1*G5, and in breadth from 1-06 

 to 1-2. 



Palumbus elphinstonii (ISykes). The Nihjliiri Wood-Pigeon. 



Pahimbus elpliiustonii {Sykes), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 465 ; Hume, 

 Rouyh Draft N. 4" E. no. 786. 



The Nilghiri Wood-Pigeon breeds in many of the better-wooded 

 localities of the Blue Mountains, at elevations of 5000 feet and 

 upwards. They build the usual stick-nest — a very slight platform 



