24 COLUMBIA. 



pair of tail-feathers, whilst the black runs up the outer margin 

 sometimes for three-fourths of the length. 



Bill leaden-blue, the tip darkish horny or dark plumbeous: 

 irides dark brown ; legs and feet pale smalt-blue (D(tvison). 



Length about 16 ; tail 5'5 ; wing 9 ; tarsus 1-2 ; bill from 

 gape 1-4. 



Distribution. From the Andamans and Nicobars through the 

 Malay Archipelago to New Guinea and Australia, where a local 

 form (M. spilorrhoa) occurs. This Pigeon breeds on the Nicobars 

 and is a seasonal visitant to the Andamans, Cocos, Narcondam, 

 Barren Island, and according to BlythTto the Mergui Archipelago, 

 but not, so far as is known, to the mainland of Tenasserim. 

 According to Dr. Maingay, this species also visits the islands only 

 on the coast of the Malay Peninsula. 



Habits, <Sfc. Though found in great numbers at the Nicobars, 

 this bird, according to Davison, is irregularly distributed, being 

 very common in some islands but absent in others. In some it 

 keeps much to mangrove swamps. It lays a single egg iu January, 

 February, or March, and makes the usual platform nest on man- 

 groves. A single egg obtained by Captain Wimberley measured 

 1*78 by 1'25. The bird is a fruit-eater, and in its general habits 

 closely resembles Carpophaya. 



Subfamily CALCENADIN^E. 



The Nicobar Pigeon, which with an allied species forms the 

 present subfamily, agrees with the Carpophagince in having an 

 oil-gland and ambiens muscle, but no intestinal ca3ca ; it ditfers 

 in having only 12 tail-feathers, long tarsi, elongate feathers on the 

 neck, and metallic plumage. 



Genus CALCENAS, G. E. Gray, 1840. 



The genus Caloenas is distinguished by its long neck-hackles, 

 longest and narrow on the back of the neck, disintegrated and 

 hair-like on the occiput and fore neck. The bill is large and the 

 apical portion curved ; it bears a fleshy protuberance, larger in 

 males than in females, at the base of the culmen ; the wings are 

 long and pointed ; tail of 12 feathers, short and rounded ; feet 

 strong; tarsus naked, stout, longer than the mid-toe without claw. 



Only two species are known, of which one inhabits -the Nicobar 

 Islands. 



1290. Caloenas nicobarica. The Nicobar Pyjeon. 



Columba nicobavica, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 283 (1766). 

 Caloenas nicobarica, G. R. Gray, List Gen. B. p. 59 (1840) ; Blyih, 

 Cat. p. 238 ; id. J. A. S. B. xxviii, p. 274 ; Ball, J. A. S. B. 



