CALOENAS. 65 



56. CALCENAS NICOBARICA (Linnaeus). 

 NICOBAR PIGEON. 



Columba nicobarica LIN-N^:US, Syst. Nat. ed. 10 (1758), 1, 164. 



Calcenas nicobarica SALVADOR!, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. (1893), 21, 615; 

 BLANFORD, Fauna Brit. Ind. Bds. (1898), 4, 24, fig. 5 (head) ; SHARPE, 

 Hand-List (1899), 1, 91; GATES, Cat. Birds' Eggs (1901), 1, 106; 

 MCGREGOR and WORCESTER, Hand-List (1906), 15. 



Dun-du-nai, native name. 



Mindoro (Steere Exp., Bourns & Worcester)-, Negros (Bourns & Worcester) ; 

 Palawan (Platen)-, Sibutu (Everett); Siquijor (Celestino) ; Sulu (Bourns & 

 Worcester); Talaran, off Basilan (Freer); Tawi Tawi (Bourns & Worcester). 

 Nicobar and Greater Sunda Islands, Mergui and Bismark Archipelagos, Moluccas" 

 to New Guinea. 



Adult male. Head, neck, throat, and breast dark slate or blue-black; 

 long neck-pluines, mantle, back, wing-coverts, and some of the inner 

 secondaries bright metallic green, blue, or bronze-red changing with the 

 light; primaries and outer secondaries black, more or less edged with 

 blue ; tail and its coverts pure white ; abdomen, flanks, and thighs blue- 

 black with more or less metallic green. Wing, 250; tail, 82; culmen 

 from base, 24; tarsus, 40. 



"Female. Similar to the male but smaller, narrow feathers of the neck 

 shorter, and also frontal knob smaller. 



"Young. Like the female, but the tail greenish black." (Salvadori.) 



"Rare in all the islands visited by us except Tawi Tawi, where it is 

 very common. Invariabty found on the ground in deep woods. It rises 

 very heavily and with much noise, always alighting in low trees, and 

 then flying from tree to tree if disturbed. Iris dark brown; legs dark 

 purple; upper surface of feet dark purple; lower surface yellow; nails 

 yellow; bill black. Seven specimens average as follows: Length, 346; 

 culmen, 23; wing, 241; tail, 86; tarsus, 38; middle toe and claw, 48." 

 (Bourns and Worcester MS.) 



Order RALLIFORMES. 



RAILS, GALLINTJLES, AND COOTS. 



Size medium to small; body compressed; thighs very muscular; legs 

 rather long; toes long; wing short and rounded; tail short and soft, 

 composed of ten or twelve feathers; bill strong but variable in form; 

 long and slightly curved in typical rails, short and thick in the crakes, 

 subconical and heavy in Porphyrio; nostrils pervious and variable in 

 shape; wing usually bearing a short spine or a flattened knob. Most of 

 the species inhabit marsh-land, rice-fields, or thick beds of reeds border- 

 ing ponds and streams; Rallina, Amaurornis, and Gallicrex are often 

 found in dry fields or underbrush at considerable distances from water. 

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