304 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 



Subfamily TRERONINJE. 

 Genus SPHENOCEKCUS, G. E. Gray. 



663. SPHENOCERCUS SPHENURUS. 

 THE WEDGE-TAILED GREEN PIGEON. 



Vinago sphenura, Vig. P. Z. S. 1831, p. 173. Sphenocercus sphenurus, Jerd. 

 B. Ind. ii. p. 453 j Hume fy Henders. Lah. to Yark. p. 270 j Hume, Nests and 

 Eggs, p. 494 ; id. S. F. iii. p. 163 ; Wald. in Bl B. Burm. p. 144 j Hume fy Dav. 

 S. F. vi. p. 415 ; Hume, S. F. viii. p. 109 ; Scully, S. F. viii. p. 339 ; Oates, S. F. 

 x. p. 235. 



Description. Male. Head, neck and lower plumage greenish yellow, 

 the crown and breast washed with rufous ; upper back slaty green ; wing- 

 coverts, tertiaries, back, rump and upper tail-coverts dark dull green ; the 

 centre of the back and the lesser coverts washed with maroon ; primaries 

 and secondaries blackish ; the greater wing-coverts and secondaries narrowly 

 margined with yellow ; central tail-feathers green, the others ashy, more and 

 more washed with green as they approach the centre ; flanks and region of 

 the vent mixed ashy green and yellow ; under tail-coverts pale cinnamon. 



The female differs in having no maroon on the wings and back, in 

 having no rufous tinge on the crown and breast, in being of a darker green, 

 and in having the under tail- coverts centred with ashy green. 



Legs, feet and claws crimson-pink ; bill dull smalt-blue, horny portion 

 pale skimmed-milk-blue ; orbital skin pale smalt ; irides with an inner ring 

 of pale bright blue and an outer ring of buify pink. (Davison.) 



Length 13 inches, tail 6, wing 7, tarsus *9, bill from gape '9. The 

 female appears to be smaller and to have a shorter tail. 



The Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon is found throughout the hill-portions 

 of Pegu and the forests skirting them. Mr. de Wet sent it to me from 

 near Tonghoo; and Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay procured it on the Tonghoo 

 hills. Mr. Davison met with it in Tenasserim as far south as Mooleyit ; 

 and this is probably its southern limit. 



It occurs in the hill-tracts of Eastern Bengal and along the Himalayas 

 to the north-west. 



The Pigeons of this and the next three genera are termed cf Green 

 Pigeons," from the prevailing colour of their plumage. The males are 

 not difficult to be identified ; but the females resemble each other very 

 closely. The two birds of this genus may be at once separated from all 

 the others by their peculiar wedge-shaped tails and by the absence of a 

 sinuation on the third primary. 



The present species is found in thick-forest country, frequenting trees 



