EASTERN WOOD-PIGEON 161 
Measurements. Length about 16 to 17 inches ( = 406.4 to 431.8 mm.) ; 
wing from 9.6 to 10.35 in. ( = 243.8 to 262.8 mm.); tail from 5.5 to 6 in. 
( = 189.7 to 152.4 mm.) ;_ bill at front about .7 in. (17.7 mm.) and from gape 
about 1.1 in. (= about 28 mm.) ; tarsus a little over 1 in. ( = 25.4 mm.). 
Adult female. The female of Palumbus palumbus is said to be somewhat 
duller in the colouring than the male, but I can see no difference between 
the male and female of casiotis. 
Colours of soft parts. As in the male with the exception that the irides 
are never a bright yellow. 
Measurements. As in the male, but in life the two sexes can generally 
be discriminated, the female being a lighter built, more slender bird, and 
perhaps on an average a trifle smaller. 
Young of both sexes. Paler and more dull in coloration than the adult, 
the purple and green gloss being practically absent and the neck-patches 
entirely so until after the first autumn-moult. The edging to the feathers 
of the wing is more pronounced and often buffish in tint in the bird in its 
first plumage. The irides are very pale blue-brown. 
Distribution. The present bird replaces the European Wood-Pigeon 
in south Persia and Turkestan; in Afghanistan, Baluchistan at comparatively 
low elevations, and the whole of the north-west Himalayas as far east as 
Sikhim, extending into the Punjab and rarely into Sind in winter. It is 
common in Kashmir, but is rare in Tibet, though I have records of its 
occurrence from the better wooded parts about Gyantse and further north. In 
the extreme north of Persia our Indian form is replaced by the European 
Wood-Pigeon which is the resident form. 
Nidification. The Eastern Wood-Pigeon breeds throughout the greater 
part of its range in the Himalayas from an elevation of some 2,500 to 12,000 ft. 
or over, but there are certain areas in which it would seem never to nest. 
Hume says that about Simla, Mussoorie, and Almorah they appear about 
the beginning of November and stay until the middle of April, when they 
depart for other quarters. Hutton and Wilson, Colonel Ward and others 
all confirm this curious local migration, which is probably governed by its 
food supply. In Chitral it must be a resident breeding species as Perreau 
found it there in November, May, and again in July. In Kashmir it 
undoubtedly breeds in suitable localities and Whitehead records that 
“Mr. Douglas tells me that it nests freely near the Zera Kotal, above Shinauri 
and north of the Samana. It also occurs in the Kurram Valley and probably 
breeds there.” 
Marshall, Cock, and later collectors have taken its eggs at and about 
Murree; Barnes and Wardlaw Ramsay took them in Afghanistan, where it 
breeds in great numbers, and Colonel Unwin took its nest with two fresh 
eggs in the Agrore Valley at an elevation of only 2,500 ft. 
It is a late breeder not commencing to lay until the end of May, 
and most eggs will be found in the month of June and some well on 
into early July. 
The nest is exactly like that of the English Wood-Pigeon, a mere platform 
of sticks placed on a thick bush or small sapling and seldom if ever on big 
trees. Marshall found them in the valley of the Jhelam breeding in 
dense thorny jungles, but does not describe the actual sites of the two 
nests obtained. 
The eggs are invariably two in number and similar to those of the 
M 
