(24) COLUMBA LIVIA LIVIA (Bonn.). 
THE BLUE ROCK-PIGEON. 
Columba livia Briss., Orn., I p. 82 (1760). 
Columba oenas Linn. (part), Syst. Nat., I p. 279. 
Columba domestica Lath., Ind. Orn., II p. 589. 
Columba domestica livia id. ib., p. 590. 
Columba livia Bonn., Encycl. Méth., I p. 227 (1790) ; Blyth, Cat. B.M.A.S.B., 
no. 233 (part); id., J.A.S.B., XIV p. 861; Hume, Str. Feath., I p. 218; 
Blanf., East Persia, II p. 268; Cripps, Str. Feath., VII p. 296; Hume, 
ib., VIII p. 109; id., Cat. no. 788, bis; Barnes, Str. Feath., [IX p. 457; 
id., B. Bom., p. 289; Salvadori, Cat. B.M., XXI p. 252; Blanf., Avi. 
Brit. I., IV p. 30; Sharpe, Hand-List Birds, I p. 69; Oates, Cat. Eggs 
B.M., I p. 87; Barnes, J.B.N.H.S., V p. 330; Rattray, ib., XII p. 344; 
Inglis, ib., XIV; p. 561; Marshall, ib., XV p. 352; Nicol Cumming, 
ib., XVI p. 691; Ward, ib., XVII p. 943; Perreau, ib., XIX p. 919; 
Whitehead, ib., XX p. 966. 
Columba affinis Blyth, J.A.8.B., XIV p. 862. 
Columba neglecta Hume, Lah. to Yark., p. 272 (1873); id., Str. Feath., 
I p.218; Severtz, ib., III p. 430. 
Columba spelaea Hume, Lah. to Yark., p. 273. 
Vernacular Names. Kabutar, Hin.; Konturam, Pushtu. 
Description.—Adult male. Head dark purple-grey; nape, neck all 
round, upper-breast and the extreme upper part of the interscapulary region 
dark grey glossed with brilliant metallic purple and green, according to the 
light in which it is held. Upper-back ashy-grey grading gradually into white 
on the lower-back, where the white forms a broad band, about 2 in. deep; 
rump and upper tail-coverts dark grey, generally a little darker than the 
upper-back ; tail dark grey like the rump with a broad black band across 
the end leaving only a narrow final tip of grey. The outermost rectrices with 
a broad border of white on the outer web between the base and the black 
band. Wing-coverts and innermost secondaries grey, of the same shade as 
the back, with two broad bars of black, the first formed by the black bases 
of the greater coverts and a second by the innermost secondaries which are 
mostly black or blackish-brown, though with the concealed bases and the 
tips grey; primaries brownish-grey, paler on the inner webs except at the 
tips. Lower-parts slaty-grey, darkest on the breast ; under wing-coverts and 
axillaries white, the former more or less suffused with very pale grey. 
Colour of soft parts. ‘‘ Iris orange red ; bill vinous slate colour, inclining 
to white on the cere ; legs red’ (Salvadori). 
Measurements. ‘ Total length 11 in., wing 8.7 in., tail 4.6 in., bill .79 in., 
tarsus 1.2 in.” (Salvadori). 
According to Hume, who measured a very big series of British birds, 
