MACROPVGIA, 31 



feathers whitish ; quills dark brown ; chin and throat buff, with a virious tinge ; 

 breast and sides of the neck vinous brown, with purple and green reflections, each 

 feather with a concealed black bar and lilac tip ; abdomen, vent and under tail 

 coverts buff ; sides of the body tinged with ashy. The female has the breast 

 and upper abdomen barred wdth brown and the colours are less bright ; bill 

 horny brown ; legs and feet dull lake red ; irides brown, with an outer pink 

 circle ; orbital skin pale livid. 



Length. — 15 to 16 inches; tail 7-5; wing 7*2; tarsus O'Qj bill from 

 gape I. 



Hab. — S.-E. Himalayas, from Nepaul to Bhootan, extending to the Khasia 

 hills. In Sikkim, according to Jerdon, it frequents the zone from 3000 to 

 nearly 7000 feet. Hodgson says it lays in the Central forests of Nepaul 

 in May and June. At Darjeeling, according to Theobald, during July. It also 

 occurs along the hill tracts of Eastern Bengal ; in the north-eastern portion 

 of Pegu on the Karin hills at 4000 feet elevation and on the Tounghoo hills 

 at an altitude of 3S00 feet. Gates adds, that Mr. Davison obtained it in 

 Tenasserim on the Mooleyit mountain and at Kollidoo further north. They 

 are shy birds and keep to thick forests, associating in small flocks. They 

 breed on trees, making a nest of twigs and laying two eggs. Breeding season 

 March and April. Macropygia rujiptmiis, Blyth, an allied species, is found 

 in the Nicobar Islands. Nothing appears to have been noticed by late 

 observers of M. ruficeps, Temm., a Javan species which Jerdon notices as 

 occurring also in Tenasserim. 



43. Macropygia assimiliS, Hume, Sir. F. ii. p. 441 ; Wald. 

 m Blyth' s B. Bur m. ^, 146; Wardlaw- Ramsay , Ibis, 1877, p. 468; Hume 

 and Vav., Str. F. vi. p. 420 ; Hu77ie, Str. F. viii. p. I 10 ; Oa/es, B. Br, 

 Burm. ii. p. 296. — The Tenasserim Cuckoo Dove, 



Forehead and crown chestnut; sides of the head and neck, also hind neck 

 and back, minutely freckled with greyish white ; rump and upper tail 

 coverts brown, suffused with rufous at the edges ; wing coverts, scapulars 

 and tertiaries dark brown, tipped with chestnut ; quills dark brown ; chin and 

 throat fulvous ; lower plumage rufous, blotched with black on the breast ; 

 under wing coverts chestnut; four central tail feathers brown, the others 

 brown at the base and chestnut, with a subterminal dusky bar. {Oates.) Legs 

 and feet dark brownish red ; bill pinkish red or pale purplish brown ; irides 

 sometimes grey with an inner ring of blue or grey only, or pearly white ; 

 orbital skin pale blue. {Davison.) 



Length. — 13 inches ; tail 6*5 ; wing 5'6; tarsus 07 ; bill from gape 0*9. 



Hab. — Tenasserim on the Mooleyit mountain, and further north at Kollidoo ; 

 also on the Karin hills east of Tounghoo at an elevation of 3000 feet. Extends 

 down the Malay Peninsula. Nothing is known of its nidification. 



