164 COLUMBID^] TURTURCENA 



bird the head is mixed grey and purple, and the back is more or 

 less brown. 



Distribution. The Olive Pigeon is a bird of the forest and is 

 found only along the southern coast of the Colony from Knysna 

 through the Eastern Province to Natal and Zululand ; stragglers 

 occasionally reach the neighbourhood of Cape Town and it is 

 common in parts of the Transvaal, but has not yet been noticed in 

 German South-west Africa or Khodesia. 



Beyond our limits it extends through Nyasaland arid East Africa, 

 to Shoa and Abyssinia, and has also been obtained in Angola. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony Cape 

 divisioo, June (Layard and S. A. Mus.), George (Atmore), Knysna, 

 November and December (le Vaillant, Victorin and Layard), East 

 London (Bickard), Peri Forest near King William's Town (Tre- 

 velyan), Sunday Eiver and Pondoland (Berlin Mus.), Orange River 

 near Aliwal North (Whitehead) ; Natal near Durban, June to 

 August (Ayres), Pinetown, September (Brit. Mus.), Balgowan, 

 breeding March (Sparrow) ; Zululand (Woodward) ; Transvaal- 

 Lydenburg and the Magaliesberg in Rustenburg (Ayres). 



Habits. This, the largest of South African Pigeons, is chiefly 

 an inhabitant of the forest ; it seems to be partially migratory in its 

 habits, appearing in very large numbers at certain seasons of the 

 year, when the forest fruits are ripe, especially those of the wild 

 olive tree ; this is in November and December at Knysna, and in 

 June, July and August near Durban. At other times of the year 

 they appear to be dispersed about solitary or in pairs. They build 

 the usual loose nest of sticks in trees, usually in mountain ravines, 

 and lay two white eggs, measuring about 1 5 x 1-12. Atmore found 

 nests in the top of tree ferns in the mountain ravines near 

 Blanco in the George district, and Layard states that he was 

 informed that they laid four eggs, only two of which hatched out. 

 On the other hand, Major Sparrow tells me that, as a rule, only one 

 egg is laid and hatched, and that this is somewhat rounded, and of 

 a pale greenish tinge. 



Genus II. TURTURCENA. 



Type. 



Turturoena, Bp. Comptes Bend, xxxix. p. 1104 (1854) T. delagorguei. 

 This genus resembles Columba in most respects, but the size 

 is smaller and there is a patch of metallic colour on the hind neck, 

 while the sexes are dissimilar. 



