294 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



654. TURTUR HUMILIS. 



THE EASTERN RUDDY RING-DOVE. 



Columba humilis, Temm. PL Col. 258. Turtur humilis, Jerd. B. Ind. ii. 



p. 482 (part.) ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, p, 507 (part.) ; id. S. F. ii. p. 269, iii. 

 p. 165, iv. p. 292 ; Armstrong, S. F. iv. p. 338 ; Wald. Trans. Zool. Soc. ix. 

 p. 219 ; David et Oust. Ois. Chine, p. 388 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 423 ; Hume, 

 S. F. viii. p. 110; Bingham, S. F. ix. p. 194; Oates, S. F. x. p. 235. Turtur 

 tranquebaricus apud Bl. B. Burm. p. 145. Turtur humilior, Hume, Proc. 

 As. Soc. Beng. 1874, p. 241 ; id. S. F. iii. p. 279. 



Description. Male. Forehead, crown, nape, hind neck, sides of the head 

 and cheeks ashy ; a black collar on the hind neck immediately next the 

 ashy ; rump and upper tail-coverts darker ashy ; chin white ; throat, breast, 

 abdomen, sides of the neck, back, scapulars, wing-coverts, tertiaries and 

 outer webs of the secondaries vinous-red ; remainder of the wing dark ashy; 

 under wing-coverts, sides of the body, lower abdomen arid vent ashy ; under 

 tail-coverts white ; central tail-feathers ashy brown ; the others dark ashy, 

 broadly tipped with white, the white also occupying all the outer web of 

 the outermost feathers. 



The female has the black collar of the male ; but the head and the whole 

 upper plumage are brown ; the lower plumage is rufous-grey where vinous- 

 red in the male. 



Iris dark brown ; eyelids plumbeous ; bill black ; legs vinaceous brown ; 

 claws black; the joints of the scales on the legs white. 



Length 9*5 inches, tail 4, wing 5*5, tarsus '8, bill from gape *75. The 

 female is of the same size. 



The present species differs from the allied T. tranquebaricus of India in 

 having the plumage of a deeper red, the under wing-coverts dark ash 

 instead of ashy white, and in having the head and rump darker in colour. 



The Eastern Ruddy Ring-Dove is universally distributed over the Pro- 

 vince ; and Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay observed it in Karennee. 



It extends north as far as Cachar, but is replaced in India by T. tranque- 

 baricus. It ranges into China, Cochin China, and the Malay peninsula, 

 and is found in the Philippine Islands. 



The habits of this Dove are somewhat different from those of the pre- 

 ceding species : it is generally met with in flocks; and it affects well-wooded 

 localities only, feeding under the shade of trees more frequently than in 

 the open. I have never obtained the nest in Burmah; but this Dove will 

 probably be found to breed throughout the dry season, making, as its ally 

 does in India, a small nest of twigs in the outer branches of large trees, 

 and laying two eggs. 



