TRERON. 497 



ORDER, GEMITORES PIGEONS AND DOVES. 



Bill short, straight, compressed, front half of mandible vaulted and curved 

 at the tip, the base with a soft fleshy membrane, in which are the nostrils ; 

 wings moderate or long; tail variable, of 12, 1 4, on 6 feathers, even or rounded; 

 tarsi strong. Habits monogamous. Both sexes assist in making the nest, 

 incubating the eggs, and feeding the young. Nests loosely constructed of twigs, 

 straw, and almost any material which could be readily got and built on trees, 

 roof of buildings or ledges and holes in rocks ; eggs two in number, white. 

 They feed on fruit and grain, and in feeding the young disgorge the food from 

 their craw. 



Family, TRERONIDyE FRUIT PIGEONS. 



Bill variable, short, thick, or slender ; tip vaulted ; tail of 14 feathers ; tarsi 

 more or less feathered, the bare portion reticulated. 



Gen. Treron. Vieill. 

 Bill strong and deep ; eyes surrounded by a nude space. 



1140. Treron nipalensis (Hodgs^ Jerd., B. Ind. H. p. 445, 



No. 771 ; Hume, Sir. F. iii. p. 160 ; Blyth and Wald., B. Burm.^- 163 ; 

 Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 410; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. 109; Bivgham, 

 Str. F> ix. p. 193 ; Oates, Sir. F. x. 235 ; id., B. Br< Burm. ii. p. 306. 

 The THICK-BILLED GREEN PIGEON. 



Head and nape ashy, paler on the crown and tinged with greenish on 

 the nape ; rest of the plumage bright green, except the back, scapulars, 

 and most of the wing coverts, which are maroon ; other coverts and 

 tertiaries green, the median series broadly edged with yellow ; greater coverts 

 blackish, edged with yellow; primaries and their coverts black, the latter 

 narrowly edged with white ; secondaries black, edged externally with yellow ; 

 central feathers of the tail green, the next pair greenish with ashy tips, the 

 rest of tail feathers ashy, tinged with green on the outer webs, and with a black 

 bar across ; under tail coverts cinnamon brown. The female differs in wanting 

 the ashy head and maroon mantle Bill red at base ; the culmen yellowish ; 

 corneous portion bluish white ; eyelids greenish blue ; irides blue ; legs bright 

 red ; corneous portion of bill extending to the forehead. 



Length. 10*5 to iO'8 inches; tail 3*5; wing 5*5 to 57; tarsus 0-9; bill 

 from gape 0*95. 



Hab. The hill tracts of Eastern Bengal and S.-E. Himalayas, the hilly, 

 parts of Burmah, extending down the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra ; also Siam 

 and Cochin-China. Found in flocks ; feeds on fruits. Breeds in March, Eggs 

 2, pure white. 



VOL. II. 65 



