(37) STREPTOPELIA TURTUR ARENICOLA (Hartert). 
THE PERSIAN TURTLE-DOVE. 
Turtur turtur arenicola Hartert, Nov. Zool., I p. 42 (1894). 
Turtur auritus Hume, Lah. to Yark., p. 278; Blanf., E. Persia, II p. 270; 
Scully, Str. Feath., IV p. 177. 
Turtur turtur Salvadori, Cat. B.M., XXI pt. 1 (part); Sharpe, Hand-List, 
pt. 1, p. 77 (part); Oates, Cat. Eggs B.M., pt. 1, p. 94 (part). 
Vernacular Name. Tarul-ghu, Turki. 
Description.—Aduli male. Similar to the adult male of S. twrtur turtur, 
the European Turtle-Dove, but much paler and brighter in colour. The 
upper-back, scapulars, and wing-coverts bright pale cinnamon, the head 
paler and more ashy and the under-parts very much paler, with the extent 
of white greater and the vinaceous less as well as being brighter and more 
pink. The edges to the feathers of the black patches on the neck are wider 
and at the same time less pure a white than in turtur turtur, this being especially 
noticeable in the Yarkand, Persian, and Afghanistan specimens. 
Measurements. ‘‘The dimensions of the type of Turtur turtur arenicola 
in the Tring Museum are as follows: Total length about 11 in., wing 6.45, 
tail 4.4, culmen 0.68, tarsus 0.8. English Turtle-Doves have the wing 
larger.” (Hartert.) 
The series in the British Museum have wings measuring from 6.40 in. 
(= 161.5 mm.) to 7.15 in. (= 181.6 mm.), so that it does not appear that 
in a large series the wing of the European bird would average any larger than 
that of the Persian. 
“Weight 4.4 oz.” (Scully). 
Colours of soft parts. ‘‘ Bill greyish black, edge of gape and orbital space 
purple ; irides orange yellow ; legs and feet purple, claws black ” (Scully). 
“Tris orange, legs and feet lake red” (Forsyth). 
Female. Similar to the male. 
Young. Differs from the adult in the same way as the young of turtur 
turtur differs from the adult male of that subspecies. 
This bird was originally described by Hartert in Novitates Zoologicae 
from a specimen obtained at Fao in Persia, and he there notes “‘ those from 
Yarkand are different from the European bird and brighter cinnamon on 
the back, scapulars, and upper wing-coverts.” I cannot, however, separate 
the birds from Afghanistan, Yarkand and Gilgit from the south Persian 
birds, and these again seem to me to be identical with birds from Palestine. 
They are very close to, barely separable indeed, from the North African birds, 
but are perhaps a trifle brighter and more cinnamon in tint above and paler 
and less vinous below. 
Distribution. Persia in the south—but replaced in the extreme north 
and Trans-Caucasia by the true ¢éurtwr—Arabia and Palestine, Afghanistan, 
