SNOW-PIGEON 153 
Young. The feathers of the upper-parts and wings have narrow margins 
of pale buff, and the under-parts are a pale dull buff rather than white. 
Distribution. Throughout the higher Himalayas from about the 
70° long. (Chitral) through Kashmir, Ladak, Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan, and the 
highest ranges of the Dafla and Mishmi Hills. It undoubtedly spreads even 
further west, however, than this, into the higher ranges of Afghanistan, and 
it has been recorded as breeding in the Altai ranges in Persia. 
Nidification. The Snow-Pigeon breeds in colonies at high altitudes 
in the Himalayas, above 10,000 ft.—everywhere, practically, where there are 
suitable rocky cliffs with crevices or caves in which they can place their 
nests. Ward found it breeding in many places in Kashmir, and Magrath 
found it breeding in company with a small colony of Kashmir House-Martins. 
The nests are, of course, always placed in holes, clefts, or crevices in 
rocky cliffs and precipices, or in caves such as that mentioned by Colonel 
Magrath. Often they are quite inaccessible, and in Tibet I have had several 
colonies reported as being well-known, though the nests were said to be quite 
unobtainable except with ropes and an amount of trouble out of proportion 
to the object to be attained. Also they are frequently placed so far inside 
the crevices and holes that even when the men have been let down to a 
position from which they can see into the holes, they cannot get at either 
nests or eggs. The nests themselves are the usual platforms of sticks, but 
as they rest upon the ledge of rock or limestone they are even less compactly 
put together and intertwined than are the materials of most Pigeons’ nests. 
They are said to get into a very filthy state and to be full of vermin, in 
spite of the cold, before the young leave the nest. 
The number of eggs is invariably two, and they are generally laid 
late in May, throughout June, and well into July; in the earlier part of the 
season when the birds breed at a comparatively low elevation, in the later 
portion where they breed at 14,000 ft. upwards. 
I have a fair series of these birds’s egg from Sonamerg, in Kashmir, which 
were given to me by Colonel R. H. Rattray, Colonel A. E. Ward, and 
Mr. J. Davidson. C.S., and a few others taken in the Chambi Valley and near 
Gyantse in Tibet. 
They cannot be in any way distinguished from those of Columba livia 
and intermedia; in shape they are broad ellipses, or broad ovals, practically 
the same at either end, and the surface is close and smooth, but not very 
glossy. 
My biggest egg measures 1.62 in. by 1.22 in. ( = 41.1 by 31 mm.), and 
the smallest 1.4 in. by 1.02 in. (= 34.5 by 25.9 mm.). The average of 24 
eggs is 1.55 in. by 1.15 in. ( = 39.3 by 29.2 mm.). 
The Snow-Pigeon is essentially a bird of the more lofty mountains, 
breeding, as already noted, at elevations from 10,000 ft. up to 15,000 ft. 
In the winter months it descends to lower hills, but even then it is 
apparently never seen below 5,000 ft., at which height Perreau found 
it in the Chitral Hills in winter. In Kashmir, however, Ward says 
that it only comes down to about 7,000 ft., and that only in severe 
winters, retiring again to greater heights directly the weather breaks. 
In the Abor and Mishmi Hills, the natives, who brought me a couple 
