350 COLT7MBIDJE. 



exceed those of T. risoria, and are slightly smaller and decidedly 

 less pointed than those of Grocopus pkcenicoptefnt and C. chlori- 

 gaster. 



In length they vary from 1*1 to 1'34, and in breadth from O85 

 to 1*0 ; but the average of twenty-one eggs is 1*22 by 0*93. 



Turtur meena (Sykes). Sykes's Turtle-Dove. 



Turtur meena (Sykes), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 47G ; Hume, Rough Draft 

 N. $ E. no. 793. 



Sykes's Turtle-Dove is, as far as I have been able to ascertain, a 

 permanent resident of the hilly portions of Southern India, of the 

 broken belts of hills and forests that stretch across the continent 

 of India from the northern portion of the Western Ghats to 

 Cuttack; thence it extends into Eastern Eengal, Cachar, Assam, 

 and along the bases of the Himalayas (which it does not ascend to 

 an elevation of above 4000 feet) as far west as the Sikhiin and 

 Nepal Terais, and again southwards into Arracan, Pegu, and the 

 north of Tenasserim. 



It appears likely that they lay from December to April. 



Mr. V. Irwin sent me a couple of eggs from Hill Tipperah, taken 

 at the end of March ; and Mr. F. B. Blewitt says : " This species 

 certainly breeds in December and January. In the beginning of 

 the latter month a pair of young birds was brought to me from 

 the magnificent forest-covered hills some fifteen miles south of 

 Sumbulpore. 



" Here I found the birds in great numbers, and in the early 

 mornings and evenings the forests resounded with their thrice- 

 repeated deep guttural ' coo,' so unlike that of other Doves. 



" At this time the Doves were single or in pairs a certain indi- 

 cation of the breeding-season. My experience leads me to suppose 

 that this species congregates in flocks after the breeding-season, 

 for in March 1869 I found a flock some twelve miles south of 

 Seoni (Central Provinces). 



" It was, I think, on the 2nd January that the young birds were 

 brought to me ; and exactly six weeks later the female laid her first 

 egg, and the second two days later, in the made nest of cloth and 

 cotton previously placed in the cage. The birds did not, I should 

 note, sit on these eggs, neither on those subsequently laid by the 

 female in March, April, and May, when she ceased to lay. The 

 man who brought me this pair returned two days after with a nest 

 and two eggs, which he very positively declared to belong -to this 

 species. He had secured them in the forest from whence he had 

 brought the young ones. Though I did not myself take this nest, 

 I saw no reason to doubt the man's statement. The birds were in 

 great numbers and were certainly breeding, and I feel certain that 

 the eggs and nest were really of this species. The latter was 

 neatly constructed of twigs, circular in shape, with the egg-cavity 

 somewhat deep, certainly unlike the ' platform-nest ' described by 



