THE PIED IMPERIAL PIGEON. 303 



662, CARPOPHAGA BICOLOR,. 



THE PIED IMPERIAL PIGEON. 



Columba bicolor, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun. Insub. ii. p. 94. Carpophaga bicolor, 

 Ball y S. F. i. p. 79 ; Hwne, Nests and Eygs, p. 496 ; id. S. F. ii. p. 264 ; Salvad. 

 Ucc. Born. p. 292 ; Bl. B. Burnt, p. 145 ; Hume $ Dav. S. F. vi. p. 418 ; 

 If'tme, S. F. viii. p. 109 ; Kelham, Ibis, 1881, p. 527. Myristicivora bicolor, 

 Wald. Trans. Zool. Soc. ix. p. 217. 



Description. Male and female. Winglet, primaries and secondaries 

 black ; terminal portion of the tail black, the black occupying about half 

 the feather on the centrals, decreasing in extent towards the outer feathers, 

 and on the outermost pair occupying merely a small portion of the tip and 

 the outer web; remainder of the plumage white with a creamy or yellow 

 tinge. 



Legs and feet pale smalt-blue ; bill leaden blue, the tip darkish horny 

 or dark plumbeous ; irides dark brown. (Damson.} 



Length 16 inches, tail 5, wing 9, tarsus 1*2, bill from gape 1*3. The 

 female is of the same size. 



The Pied Imperial Pigeon is said by Mr. Blyth to occur in the Mergui 

 archipelago. Mr. Davison did not, however, observe it in any of the 

 islands. 



This species occurs in the Andamans and Nicobars, and has a very 

 extensive range, being found in the Malay peninsula and all the islands 

 of the archipelago to New Guinea. 



It has the same habits as the other Imperial Pigeons, but appears to be 

 a sea-coast-loving species. It breeds in mangrove trees, and, so far as is 

 known, lays only one egg. 



C. insularis, from the Nicobar Islands, may occur in the Mergui archi- 

 pelago. It is larger than C. cenea ; the upper plumage is darker and bluer ; 

 and the under tail-coverts are dingy brown, tinged with chestnut in places, 

 but not uniformly deep chestnut or maroon as in C. cenea. C. palumboides, 

 from the Andamans, has the wings and tail blackish and the rest of the 

 plumage dusl^y slaty -blue. 



