24 COLUMBID^. 



replaced by T. orientalis. South of the line of the Medi- 

 terranean, it occurs at Madeira and in the Canaries, and is 

 found throughout Northern Africa to Egypt, where Captain 

 Shelley says that it breeds : its representative, T. isahel- 

 linus, which is also a migrant, being, however, the more 

 abundant species there. Von Heuglin met with T. com- 

 munis in the Dahlak archipelago, in the Red Sea, and on the 

 shores of the Tzana Lake in Abyssinia (12° N. lat.), at an 

 elevation of over 6,000 feet, during the month of May. 



The adult male in summer has the beak brown ; the irides 

 reddish-brOAvn ; bare skin about the eye red ; crown, nape, 

 and hind neck bluish-ash, inclining to brown ; on the lower 

 part of the side of the neck are several rows of black 

 feathers broadly margined with white ; scapulars, back and 

 rump ash-brown, with darker centres to each feather ; the 

 larger and the external smaller wing-coverts dull grey ; 

 the remainder with the tertials cinnamon-brown with dark 

 centres ; quill-feathers clove-brown ; upper tail-coverts and 

 the two central tail-feathers clove-brown ; the other tail- 

 feathers lead-grey broadly tipped with white, which runs up 

 the whole outer webs of the two exterior feathers ; chin 

 nearly white, neck and breast pale vinous ; belly, vent, and 

 under tail-coverts white ; under surface of the tail-feathers 

 black with broad white tips, as on the upper surface ; under 

 wing-coverts and flanks bluish-grey ; tarsi and feet red ; 

 claws dark brown. 



The whole length is about eleven inches and a half: 

 from the carpal joint to the end of the wing seven inches ; 

 the second quill-feather a shade longer than the first, which 

 again is longer than the third. 



The colours in the female are less bright and pure than 

 those of the male, and she is rather smaller in size. 



In young birds, prior to the autumnal moult, the general 

 colour of the head and body is hair-brown ; the back rather 

 darker than the side of the neck, on which there are 

 no black and white feathers ; the wing-coverts tipped with 

 buffy-white ; the quill-feathers slightly tinged on their outer 

 edges with rufous ; belly and under tail-coverts white ; flanks 



