(26) COLUMBA RUPESTRIS Pall. 
THE BLUE HILL-PIGEON. 
(PLATE 12.) 
Columba oenas, var. C. rupestris, Pall., Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., I p. 560, t. 35 
(1811). 
Columba rupestris Bp., Con. Av., II p. 48; Jerdon, B.I., II p. 420; 
Stoliczka, J.A.S.B., XXXVII pt. 2 p. 66; Hume, Str. Feath., 
VIII p. 110; id., Cat. no. 789; Sharpe, Yarkand Miscel. Av., p. 116; 
Salvadori, Cat. B.M., XXI p. 250; Blanf., Avi. Brit. I, IV p. 30; 
Sharpe, Hand-List, I p. 68; Ward, J.B.N.H.S., XVII p. 943; Perreau, 
ib., XIX p. 919; Bailey, ib., XXI pp. 182-3. 
Columba livia Adams, P.Z.S. 1858, p. 497; id. ib. 1859, p. 187. 
Columba rupicola Pall., Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat., I p. 562; Hume and Hend., 
Lah. to Yark., p. 273; Scully, Str. Feath., IV p. 176. 
Vernacular Names.—Yaiva Kabtar, Turki.; Angoa, Oron, Tibetan. 
Description.—Adult male. Whole head, chin, throat, and nape dark 
dove-grey ; hind-neck and shoulders still darker grey, glossed with green, 
and to a much less extent with purple, though the comparative amount of the 
two varies in different lights. Upper-back, scapulars, wing-coverts, and 
innermost secondaries pure dove-grey, much lighter than that of the head ; 
quills grey, tinged with brown on the outer webs and the tips and edge of the 
inner webs; shafts dark hair-brown. 
Lower-back white, rump and upper tail-coverts dark plumbeous-grey 
like the head, but often still darker; tail dark slate-grey, the tip darker 
than the base and a broad white band across the middle, outermost pair of 
feathers white on the base and middle of the other web; breast vinous-grey 
tinged with purple lustre next the neck, and changing gradually to a lighter 
dove-grey on the lower-breast, flanks, abdomen, and lower tail-coverts ; 
under wing-coverts white except on the edge of the wing, which is grey ; 
axillaries white. 
Colours of soft parts. Iris orange-red, golden-red, or deep orange-yellow ; 
bill almost black with a tinge of plumbeous or livid flesh-colour on cere ; legs 
and feet coral or lobster-red, rather darker in front than behind, with the 
soles paler and the claws horny-black or horny-brown. ‘“‘TIrides blood-red, 
straw colour at pupillary margin ” (Scully). 
Measurements. Total length 13 to 14 in. (= 330 to 355 mm.). The 
average wing-measurement of sixty-three birds is exactly 9in. (= 228.6 mm.), 
and the greatest length is 9.60 in. ( = 243.6 mm.) in a bird from Tibet, 
unsexed, and the least is 8.50 in. ( = 215.9 mm.) in a bird, also unsexed, from 
China. 
The average length of wing in birds which have been sexed as males 
is 9.25 in. ( = 235.9 mm.), and the greatest and least length are the same as 
those already given. : 
