132 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 
perhaps as the rarest of stragglers into the extreme north-east, as with the 
two Ladak birds, and possibly also into Kashmir. 
When, however, we examine the written records of its appearance in 
India the case is very different, and at first sight it would appear to be over- 
whelmingly conclusive that C. livia livia is an exceedingly common bird in 
many parts of the north-west of India and the adjoining countries. First, 
we have Hume who records that Dr. Day shot a typical specimen of livia in 
the Rooree district, and that he himself obtained one in the Gaj, whilst 
Dr. Day reported the bird as common at Durgalo, all these being places in 
Sind. Rattray found both the European and Indian Blue Rocks very 
common during the winter in Thull, but apparently did not collect any 
specimens or examine them very closely. In Chitral, Perreau identified a 
great number of skins, and states that from December to March he obtained 
only intermedia, whereas in March he only procured specimens of livia; and 
Whitehead, writing of the Kurram Valley, records the former as only 
occurring in amongst flocks of the latter and never collecting in separate 
flocks. Inglis obtained a single specimen in Behar as did Cripps in Furredpore. 
Ward, whilst recording the European Rock-Pigeon as occurring in Kashmir, 
says that the Indian bird is the common form, but gives no details. 
Now, in considering this evidence it has always to be borne in mind 
that the wild and domestic pigeon interbreed with the greatest freedom, and 
also that domesticated birds wander away with flocks of wild ones. All over 
India and the surrounding countries the natives keep domestic pigeons, and 
there is therefore hardly a place where the possible taint of a cross with a 
tame bird could be ruled out of consideration. 
The evidence which it is hardest to get over is undoubtedly that of 
Perreau, who obtained Indian birds in the cold weather and then the European 
bird in March—a reversion of what we should have expected, yet proving 
that the typical English bird, or one very much like it, does come into, or 
close to, India in large flocks at certain times of the year. But it may well 
be that Perreau whilst correctly identifying the March Pigeon as a bird quite 
different to our Indian Blue Rock, did not see that it differed somewhat from 
the European bird also, and the bird he saw was possibly the intermediate 
form, schimperi, vel neglecta, vel palestinae. : 
The conclusions I have arrived at are that our Indian Blue Rock-Pigeon, 
C. livia intermedia, is found in India and extends into Afghanistan, Baluchistan, 
Persia, Arabia, and through Egypt and northern Africa as far west as Tunis, 
whilst the European Blue Rock-Pigeon is found throughout Europe, Asia 
Minor, north-west and Central Asia, and possibly northern Persia. 
Owing, however, to their enormous power of flight, their constant 
interbreeding with domestic Pigeons, and the tendency of this family, domestic 
or wild, to throw back, aberrant birds are constantly occurring : so that even 
where livia is the dominant bird, we everywhere find, except in the extreme 
west of its habitat, specimens which are nearer intermedia, and vice versa 
specimens which are nearer livia in the normal habitat of intermedia. 
This will be the case whether we are content to recognize only the two 
self-evident subspecies, livia and intermedia, as dominant respectively over the 
greater part of their eastern and western ranges, or whether we again divide 
the intermediate birds in the intervening range into one or more subspecies. 
Before leaving the subject, however, it should be noted that in bis Hand- 
List Sharpe recognizes the following species, livia, intermedia, schimpert, 
and neglecta. The last species he gives as confined to Persia and north-west 
India, but he also gives south Persia and central Asia as part of the normal 
