MACROPYGIA. 511 



Gen. Macropygia. Swains. 



Bill long and slender ; tail long, broad and much graduated ; legs and feet 

 fitted for perching j lateral toes somewhat unequal ; soles flat ; rump more or 

 less spinous. 



1166. Macropygia leptogrammica (Temm.), Wald., ibis, 1875, 



p. 439; Oates, B. r. Burm. ii. p. 295. Columba leptogrammica, Temm., 

 PL Col. 560. Coccyzura tusalia, Hodgs, J . A. S. B. xii., p. 937. Macropygia 

 tusalia, Jerd., JB. Ind. ii. p. 473, No. 791 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs Ind. B. 

 p. 500; Wald., in BlytWs B. Burm. p. 146; Ward I aw -Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, 

 p. 468; Hume and Dav., Sir. F. vi. p. 419; Hume, Sir. F. viii. p. no. The 

 BAR-TAILED CUCKOO DOVE. 



Forehead buff, with a vinous tinge ; crown, nape and sides of the head vina- 

 ceous, glossed with changeable green and amethystine ; hind neck also glossed 

 the same ; back, rump, upper tail coverts and scapulars, also tertiaries and wing 

 coverts, dusky black, barred with numerous narrow deep rufous bars ; central 

 tail feathers black, barred with rufous; the next two pairs ashy at base and 

 barred indistinctly with black and rufous at the end ; the outermost feathers 

 ashy, with a broad subterminal black band ; outer web of the outermost 

 feathers whitish ; quills dark brown ; chin and throat buff, with a vinous tinge ; 

 breast and sides of the neck vinous brown, with purple and green reflections, each 

 feather with a concealed black bar and lilac tip ; abdomen, vent and under tail 

 coverts buff ; sides of the body tinged with ashy. The female has the breast 

 and upper abdomen barred with brown and the colours are less bright ; bill 

 horny brown ; legs and feet dull lake red ; irides brown, with an outer pink 

 circle ; orbital skin pale livid. 



Length. 15 to 16 inches ; tail 7-5 ; wing 7-2 ; tarsus 0'9; bill from gape I. 



Had. S.-E. Himalayas, from Nepaul to Bhootan, extending to the Khasia 

 hills. In Sikkim, according to Jerdon, it frequents the zone from 3000 to 

 nearly 7000 feet. Hodgson says it lays in the Central forests of Nepaul 

 in May and June. At Darjeeling, according to Theobald, during July. It also 

 occurs along the hill tracts of Eastern Bengal ; in the north-eastern portion 

 of Pegu on the Karin hills at 4000 feet elevation and on the Tounghoo hills 

 at an altitude of 3500 feet. Gates adds, that Mr. Davison obtained it in 

 Tenasserim on the Mooleyit mountain and at Kollidoo further north. They 

 are shy birds and keep to thick forests, associating in small flocks. They 

 breed on trees, making a nest of twigs and laying two eggs. Breeding season 

 March and April. Macropygia rufipenms, Blyth, an allied species, is found 

 in the Nicobar Islands. Nothing appears to have been noticed by late 

 observers of M. ruficeps, Temm., a Javan species which Jerdon notices as 

 occurring also in Tenasserim. 



1167. Macropygia assimiliS, Hume, Sir. F. ii. p. 441 ; Wald. 

 in BlytWs B t Burm. p. 146; Wardlaiu- Ramsay, Ibis, 1877, p. 468; Hume 



