CHALCOPHAPS. 



97 



with blackish edges to the feathers ; tail blackish brown, outer two 

 or three pairs of feathers grey, with a broad subterminal black 

 band : lower parts deep vinous, paler on throat and abdomen, 

 lower tail-coverts dark grey. 



Fig. 6. Head of C. indica. \. 



Female. Forehead and supercilia pale grey ; crown, nape, hind 

 neck, and sides of neck brown tinged with vinous, smaller wing- 

 coverts near edge of wing brown, the white bar absent or 

 scarcely perceptible ; upper tail-coverts rufous-brown with dark 

 edges, middle four rectrices blackish brown, next two pairs rufous 

 near the base, outer two pairs grey near the base and at tips as in 

 the male; lower surface brown with a vinous tinge; back and 

 wings as in male. Young birds are at first dull brown above, with 

 very little green, and are barred rufous and dark brown beneath. 



Bill red : iris dark brown ; eyelids plumbeous : legs dusky red, 

 claws pale horn-colour (Oates}. 



Length about 10-5; tail 3'75 ; wing 5'75; tarsus 1 ; bill from 

 gape '9. 



Distribution. Throughout the Lower Himalayas as far west as 

 Mussooree, and probably Kashmir (Adams, P. Z. 8. 1859, p. 187) 

 from the base to about 6000 feet elevation, also Lower and Eastern 

 Bengal, the forest tracts between the Ganges and the Mahanadi 

 (and probably as far south as the Godavari), east of lat. 80 E., 

 and the forests near the Malabar coast from Cape Comorin to the 

 neighbourhood of Bombay, but, so far as I can ascertain, nowhere 

 else in India ; certainly not, as Jerclon states, throughout India. 

 This dove is found in Ceylon, also in the Andamans and Nicobars, 

 and is generally distributed from Assam, throughout the Burmese 

 countries, Malay Peninsula and Archipelago to New Guinea, and 

 through South China to the Philippines. 



Habits, $c. This beautiful Dove is found only in forests and 

 damp thickly-wooded parts of the country, and is generally solitary. 

 It is far from shy and may be seen feeding on forest paths, along 

 which or along stream-beds it dashes with great swiftness when 

 disturbed, but it usually flies only a shnrt distance and seldom or 

 never rises far from the ground. It feeds on berries and seeds 

 picked up from the ground, and its call is low, plaintive, and 

 prolonged. It breeds from January or February to July, and has 

 probably two broods ; the nest, more saucer-shaped than that of 

 other doves, is a comparatively neat structure of roots, grass, or 

 twigs without lining. The eggs are creamy white to very pale 

 buff, two in number, and measure about 1-1 by '85. 



