Order COLUMB^E. 



Family COLUMBID^. 

 COLUMBA PALUMBUS, Linnseus. 



RING-DOVE. 



Golumba palumbus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 282 (176G) ; Salvadori, Cat. 

 Birds Brit. llus. xxi, p. 299 ; Malherbe, Cat. Eais. d'Ois. Alg. p. 18 

 (1846) ; Koenig, J. f. 0. 1896, p. 136 ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1895, p. 86 ; 

 id. Ibis, 1898, p. 126. 



Palumbus torquatus, Locke, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 107 (1867). 



Palumba excelsus, Locke, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 109 (1867). 



Golumba palumbus excelsus, Erlanger, J.f. 0. 1900, p. 20. 



Description. — Adult female, spring, from Djebel Selloum, Centrsil 

 Tunisia. 



Head and upper neck blue-grey ; sides of neck and nape glossed with 

 metallic-green, becoming rich purple just below the nape ; a large white 

 patch on each side of the neck, nearly united at the back ; mantle, 

 scapulars and the greater part of the upper wing-coverts ash grey, the 

 wing-coverts broadly edged with white and forming a conspicuous bar ; 

 lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts blue-grey ; tail dark blue-grey, 

 becoming blackish at the tip, and with a black band on the under surface ; 

 quills blackish-brown fringed with white ; lower throat and breast vinous- 

 purple, becoming paler on the abdomen, and light blue-grey on the crissum 

 and under tail-coverts. 



Iris pale yellow ; bill orange-red at base, and yellow at the tip ; cere 

 whitish ; feet coral-red. 



Total length 17'50 inches, wing 10'25, culmeu 1, tarsus 1-25. 



Adult female similar to the male, but smaller and duller iu coloration. 



The Ring-Dove, or Wood-Pigeon, is not uncommon in the more 

 wooded districts of Northern and Central Tunisia during the periods 

 of migration, and a good many breed in the country. A few also are 

 said to pass the winter in some parts of the Regency. In the months 

 of March and April I have found the species fairly abundant at 

 El-Oubira, as well as on the Djebel Selloum and other wooded moun- 

 tains in the high plateau region of Central Tunisia, where, according 

 to the Arabs living on the spot, this pigeon nests and passes the 



