44 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 
Dimensions much the same as in the male. The females in the British 
Museum series have an average wing-measurement of 6.93 in. (= 176.0 mm.). 
Young male of the year is always smaller than the adult, and has the 
purple-maroon of the upper-parts imperfectly developed. 
Dr. Richmond (Lc.) separates the birds inhabiting the Andamans from 
those inhabiting the Nicobars on account of their smaller size and general 
darker colour both above and below. He says that “the pigeon from the 
Andamans is similar to O. chloroptera from the Nicobars, but rather smaller, 
colour somewhat darker below; breast and sides deeper yellowish-green, 
and under tail-coverts more yellowish. The throat is yellower than in 
O. chloroptera.” 
Dr. Richmond appears to have obtained only three females of the Andaman 
form, and a very careful examination of a larger series than that examined 
by him shows that the grounds upon which he creates his new subspecies 
do not hold good. 
The biggest male in the British Museum collection is a bird with a wing 
of 182.9 mm. from the Nicobars, whilst the biggest female is a bird from the 
Andamans. On the other hand, the smallest male birds in the collection 
are two with wings of 171.4 mm., of which one comes from the Nicobars and 
the other from the Andamans. 
As regards coloration, I can see no differences that are not individual 
only, and dark and light coloured birds are found equally often in either 
group of islands. I think therefore the subspecies Osmotreron chloroptera 
andamanensis must be suppressed. 
Distribution. The Andamans and Nicobar Islands. 
Nidification. Beyond the facts noted below, which would lead one 
to infer that May and June are probably two of its breeding-months, we 
know nothing about its nidification, and its nest and eggs have yet to be 
discovered. 
There is practically nothing on record about the habits of this 
form of Green Pigeon. Davison, in Stray Feathers, has the following 
short note: “This Hurrial is exceedingly abundant, both at the 
Andamans and Nichobars, more so at the former than at the latter 
place. It is always in flocks, keeping generally to the larger forest 
trees during the heat of the day, but coming into gardens and clearings, 
or wherever there may be trees with fruit, in the morning and evening. 
Its fine clear whistling note (very like, but more powerful than that 
of O. malabarica) is one of those most frequently heard in the jungles 
about Port Blair. A few days before leaving Port Blair for Calcutta 
I noticed one of these Pigeons with a twig in its bill fly into the top of 
a tall slender tree standing just on the outskirts of the forest. This 
was in May, so it is probable that these birds breed during that 
and the following month.” Messrs. B. B. Osmaston and A. L. Butler 
both record the bird as being abundant in the Andamans, and the 
