300 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



generally tinged bluer along the edge of the wing : in some specimens 

 these parts are deep blackish slaty, only faintly tinged with metallic green 

 and blue ; in some specimens, again, the grey tippings to the breast and 

 abdomen are wanting ; the breast is deep metallic green, the feathers tipped 

 purplish ; the tibial plumes are a rich purplish blue ; the abdomen, flanks 

 and sides are a somewhat bright metallic green, with more or less of a 

 golden glow at the tips and margins of the feathers. Almost all the sca- 

 pulars, the feathers of the interscapulary region, and most of the lesser and 

 median coverts are split at the ends in a very curious manner, the shaft 

 only reaching to within from an eighth to a quarter of an inch of the end 

 of the feather. 



In the young bird the protuberances at the base of the culmen, which in 

 the adult males when we obtained them were fully as large as a pea, are 

 entirely wanting ; the frontal feathers do not advance nearly so far as in 

 the old birds ; there are no hackles ; the tail and all its upper coverts are 

 bronzy green ; the whole mantle and scapulars are duller and at the same 

 time much redder and more coppery than in any of the adults ; the head, 

 neck all round, and entire lower parts are brown ; the tips of the feathers 

 glossed with dull dark metallic green ; the whole of the rest of the plumage 

 is duller everywhere than in the adults. .(Hume.} 



The legs and feet vary from pinkish lake to dull purplish lilac ; the claws 

 are chrome-yellow, the soles dull greyish yellow ; bill, cere and fleshy pro- 

 tuberance at the base of the culmen (which, by the way, appears to be less 

 developed in the female than in the male) dark blackish grey or deep 

 slaty; the irides are deep brown. (Hume.} 



Length 16 inches, tail 3'5, wing 10, tarsus T7, bill from gape 1'5. The 

 female is of the same size. 



The Hackled Ground-Pigeon is said by Mr. Blyth to be common in the 

 Mergui archipelago. Mr. Davison did not meet with it in any of those 

 islands ; but he probably searched for them at the wrong time of the year. 



Mr. Blyth also gives it from the Malay peninsula. Dr. Tiraud states 

 that it is found in the island of Poulo-Condore off the coast of Cochin 

 China and some other smaller islands. It is met with in New Guinea and 

 some of the adjacent islands of the archipelago. Its true headquarters, 

 however, appears to be the Nicobar Islands, especially the one called Batty 

 Malve ; and it ranges into the Andaman group. 



This Pigeon seems to feed entirely on fruits; and it is found generally in 

 small parties on the ground. The nest is placed on the branch of some 

 bushy tree, and never, according to Mr. Davison, contains more than one 

 egg- 



