374 COLUMBIA. 



across and across, and was not more than twelve feet from the 

 ground. I shot the female as she flew off. The eggs measured 

 1-23 inch by 0-90 and 1-22 by 0-81." 



The eggs of this species are not separable from those of its Indian 

 congeners. They are ovals with a tendency to point at both ends, 

 pure white, and with a faint gloss. 



Osmotreron bicincta (Jerd.). The Orange-breasted 

 Green Pigeon. 



Osmotreron bicincta (Jerd.), Jerd. B. Ind. ii, p. 449 ; Hume, Roufjh 

 Draft N. $ E. no. 774. 



Some twenty years ago Mr. Blyth recorded the following note 

 about the Orange-breasted Green Pigeon and its nidification : 



" This beautiful species is common to all India, but would seem 

 to be more numerous in Lower Bengal than in the Peninsula ; and 

 it occurs plentifully in Nepal, Assam, Sylhet, Tipperah, Arracan, 

 and the Tenasserirn Provinces. In Bengal, however, it is much 

 less numerous than Treron phoenicoptera, and the flocks of the two 

 species do not commingle. I once found its nest, halfway up a 

 small mahogany tree, in the Calcutta Botanical Gardens. The 

 eggs, of somewhat less lengthened form than in Pigeons generally, 

 measured 1| inch in the long diameter. I have also obtained the 

 young, which resemble in colouring the adult female." 



Following Blyth, but perhaps scarcely understanding what 

 the latter really meant, Dr. Jerdon tells us that this species is 

 spread throughout the greater part of India, &c. ; but, as a matter 

 of fact, it is entirely unknown in Khandesh, Goojerat, Kattywar, 

 Sindh, the Punjab, Eajpootana, and the North-west Provinces, 

 and is only known in the sub-Himalayan terais of Behar and Oudh 

 and the eastern forest-regions of the Central Provinces. It is a 

 purely Indo-Burmese type, not to be found, I think, in India out 

 ol iheCO-inches rainfall regions, and, excluding Assam, Cachar, &c., 

 is not, I believe, to be found over more than one third of India 

 proper. 



According to Mr. Hodgson, this species breeds from April to 

 June in the terai and the low valleys at the base of the Nepal 

 hills. They make a loose stick-nest on branches of trees, at no 

 great elevation from the ground, and lay two pure-white eggs, the 

 usual Pigeon-shape, one of which is figured as measuring 1*15 

 by 0-8. 



I know little of its nidification. Mr. Irwin took a nest in Hill 

 Tipperah in April, containing two eggs, which he kindly sent me. 

 He described the nest as a very slight structure, of thin twigs 

 loosely put together and laid towards the end of a branch of a 

 small tree. 



The eggs, to judge from those sent, are very perfect ovals, pure 

 white, moderately glossy, and about the size of those of Turtur 



