NILGIRI WOOD-PIGEON 165 
fleshy part of bill, eyelids, legs and feet pink; irides pale yellowish-red to 
red-brown” (Davison). ‘‘ Eyelids, legs and feet lake-red ”’ (Davison). 
“ Bill brick-red at base, yellowish tip, legs and feet pinkish with white 
marks ” (Miss Cockburn). 
Measurements. Total length 15 in. to 17 in. (= 381 to 431.8 mm.) ; 
wing from 8.05 in. to 8.80 in. ( = 204.4 to 223.5 mm.); tail 6 in. to 7 in. 
( = 152.4 to 177.8 mm.) ; bill at front .65 in. (= 16.4 mm.), and from gape 
about 1.15 in. (= 29.1 mm.); tarsus about 1 in. (= 25.4 mm.). The 
average length of wings is about 8.40 in. ( = 212.3 mm.). 
“Weight 10 to 12 oz.” (Davison). 
Davison gives the wing-measurements as 8.3 to 9 in., and the tarsus 
as 1.08 to 1.15 in. These measurements are, of course, taken from fresh 
skins or living birds. 
Adult female. This has hitherto been described as similar to the male, 
but it would seem as if it never became quite so brick-red on the wings 
and lower-back as old males do, and the amount of metallic gloss is also, 
perhaps, rather less. 
Colours of soft parts are the same as in the male. 
Measurements. Females are decidedly smaller than males, the length 
of wing in the series in the British Museum Collection varying in length between 
7.7 in. ( = 195.5 mm.) and 8.20 in. ( = 208.2 mm.), with an average of 7.85 in. 
( = 199.9 mm.) exactly. Tail 5.75 in. (= 146 mm.) to 6.5 in. ( = 155.1 mm.) 
and other measurements in proportion. 
With the exception of one bird from the Nilgherries, sexed by Miss 
Cockburn, there is no other female over 8.05 in. ( = 204.4 mm.), and this is 
therefore quite an abnormally big bird. 
Young male. Like the adult, but browner and less red above and with 
the metallic colours undeveloped. The patch at the back of the neck is also 
less black than in the old bird. The wing-coverts, scapulars and innermost 
secondaries have dull narrow fringes of rufous, quite different in colour to the 
red of the adult bird. 
Distribution. Confined to the Hill tracts of western southern India, 
from Kanara south to Cape Cormorin, the Nilgherries, Palni Hills, Brahma- 
gerries, and Wynaad. Colonel Sykes found it, though rare there, in the 
Deccan Ghats. Captain Blaxland also informed Ball that he had met with 
this Pigeon on the Mahanadi and Godavery Rivers, but his identification 
has never been confirmed. 
Nidification. Hume, in Nests and Eggs, says that the Nilgiri 
Wood-Pigeon breeds in many of the better wooded localities of the Blue 
Mountains (the Nilgherries) at elevations of 5,000 ft. and upwards, and both 
Miss Cockburn and Davison took nests at and above this height, and they 
have been taken in the same hills by Messrs. Cardew, Rhodes, W. Morgan, 
Howard Campbell, and others. In the Palni Hills their nests have been found 
by the last mentioned gentleman, Macgregor and Captain Horace Terry, and 
I have received an egg from the Shevaroys. Mr. J. Stewart informs me that 
he has found them breeding in the higher ranges of hills in Travancore, and 
that he has taken an egg there. 
Miss Cockburn describes the nest as resembling “that of all Pigeons 
and Doves in the careless manner in which a few sticks are put together. On 
high trees in dense woods this bird prepares the abode for her young, and 
chooses a projecting bough, as if she had some thought for the safety of the 
