170 COLUMBINE TURTUE 



and quills very dark brown, with narrow paler edgings ; central tail 

 feathers like the back, others tipped with white, increasingly so 

 towards the outermost pair, which are white on their outer webs 

 and on the apical half of the inner webs, the concealed bases being 

 black ; a black line along the lores between the eyes and the beak ; 

 lower surface pearly-grey with a slight pink tinge, shading into white 

 on the chin, abdomen and under tail-coverts ; tail below with the 

 basal half black, the apical white. 



Iris black ; bill black ; legs dark red to purple. 



Length 11-0 ; wing 5-80; tail 4-5 ; tarsus -90 ; culmen -57. 



The sexes are alike ; a young bird is duller in colour and has 

 paler edges to the feathers. 



FIG. 53. Head of Turtur capicola. x || 



Distribution. The Cape Turtle Dove is very common through- 

 out the greater part of South Africa, wherever there are a few trees 

 and water, though in thickly wooded districts, such as the lower 

 portion of Natal, it is not so common as the Eed-eyed Dove. In 

 Damaraland, Nyasaland and East Africa it is replaced by the 

 subspecies, T. c. damarensis, but intermediate forms occur, so 

 that it is difficult to draw a line of separation between their 

 ranges. 



The following are the principal recorded localities : Cape Colony 

 Cape division, where very common and resident (S. A. Mus.), 

 Mossel Bay (Gates), Knysna (Victorin), Port Elizabeth and East 

 London (Bickard), Tulbagh, Caledon and Hanover (S. A. Mus.), 

 Deelfontein, rather local (Seimund), Windvogelberg in Cathcart 

 (Boulger), Orange Eiver, near Aliwal North, rather common 

 (Whltehead) ; Natal common in the upper country and in Zululand 

 (Woodward), Richmond road and Newcastle (Butler, Feilden and 



