(34) ALSOCOMUS PUNICEUS Tickell. 
THE PURPLE WOOD-PIGEON. 
(PLaTE 18.) 
Alsocomus puniceus Tickell, in Blyth’s J.A.S.B., XI p. 461 (1842); Blyth, 
Cat. B.M.A.S.B., p. 233; Layard, Ann. and Mag. N.H., XIV p. 58; 
Jerdon, B.I., III p. 469; Ball, Str. Feath., 1I p. 424; Blyth and Wald., 
B. Burma, p. 145; Godw.-Aus., J.A.8.B., XLII pt.2 p.171; Armstrong, 
Str. Feath, IV p. 337; Hume and Dav., ib., VI p. 418; Ball, ib., VIL 
p. 224; Hume, Str. Feath., VIII pp. 109, 157; id., Cat. no. 782; Oates, 
Str. Feath., VIII p. 167; Bingh., ib., p. 196; Legge, B. Cey., p. 696; 
Hume and Inglis, Str. Feath., IX p. 258; Oates, ib., X p. 235; id., 
B. Brit. Burma, II p. 289; Hume, Str. Feath., XI p. 296; Oates, in 
Hume’s Nests and Eggs, 2nd ed., II p. 345; Blanf., Avi. Brit. I., IV 
p. 38; Stuart Baker, J.B.N.H.S., X p. 359; Inglis, ib., XI p. 474; Stuart 
Baker, ib., XIII p. 568; Hopwood, ib., XVIII p. 433; Harington, 
_ ib., XIX p. 365; id., B. Burma, p. 67. 
Columba punicea Blyth, J.A.S.B., XIV pp. 867, 878 ; Salvadori, Cat. B.M., 
XXI p. 306; Sharpe, Hand-List, I p. 71. 
Vernacular Names. Lali Pagooma, Assamese; Daohukuruma Koro- 
gophu, Cachari. 
Description.—Adult male. Whole upper part of head from fore-head to 
nape, together with a narrow line below the bare orbital skin, greyish-white ; 
sides of head and neck dull, rather pale chestnut-brown, greyish next the 
base of the lower mandible, and with the black bases of the neck-feathers 
often showing through on the upper-neck ; back and scapulars rich, deep 
chestnut, the feathers broadly edged with brilliant green and amethyst, the 
former predominating on the shoulders where their broad edges cover the 
whole of the visible plumage, and the amethyst covering the upper-back 
and interscapulars and showing as bars on the lower-back ; rump and upper 
tail-coverts deep slaty-grey, almost black, and margined with amethyst, 
except on the longest tail-coverts ; tail blackish-brown. Whole of the visible 
portion of the wing-coverts rich chestnut-brown, the lesser and median-coverts 
narrowly edged with metallic amethyst ; edge of wing and greater primary- 
coverts blackish-brown; quills blackish-brown, the second primary narrowly 
edged with pale brown, this edging decreasing in extent until it disappears 
on the 5th or 6th primary. Innermost secondaries like the back. Breast, 
abdomen, flanks, axillaries and under wing-coverts a pale and rather vinous- 
chestnut, darker about the vent and tibial plumes; the breast is overlaid 
with a faint iridescent green sheen; under tail-coverts brownish-black, 
paler than the tail itself. 
Colours of soft parts. Irides creamy-yellow, orange-yellow to orange-red, 
the eyelids bright, almost carnation-red and the orbital skin a duller purplish- 
pink. Bill greenish or bluish-horny from tip to nostril and the angle of the 
gonys, and thence to the fore-head and lores, including cere, a sanguineous- 
pink. Legs and feet purple-red, the soles paler and the claws horny-white. 
“Tris bloodshot amber; bill vinous-purple at base, remainder greenish 
white; legs carnation, claws white” (Wardlaw Ramsay). “Claws pale 
yellow ” (Jerdon). 
Measurements. Total length about 16 in. (=406 mm.); wing from 
8.3 in. (= 210.8 mm.) to 9.3 in. (= 236.2 mm.) with an average of 8.8 in. 
