TURTUR. 45 



1309. Tartar cambayensis. The Little Brown Dove. 



Columba cambayensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 779 (1788). 



Turtur senegalensis, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 237 ; JJavids. fy Wend. S. F. 

 vii, p. 86 ; Hume. Cat. no. 794 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p. 74 ; Barnes, 

 ibid. pp. 219, 458 ; Butler, ibid. p. 420 ; Reid, S. F. x, p. 60 ; 

 Davidson, ibid. p. 315 ; Daoison, ibid. p. 408 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. 

 p. 291 ; Gates in Hume's N. 8f E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 351 ; Sharpe, 

 Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 118 (nee Brisson). 



Turtur cambayeusis*, Jerdon, B. 1. iii, p. 478 ; Stolivzka, J. A. 

 S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 66; xli, pt. 2, p. 248; Hume, S. F. i, 

 p. 218 ; Adam, ibid. p. 390 ; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 3 ; Fairbank, 

 S. F. iv. p. 262 ; v, p. 408 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 224 ; Biddulph, Ibis, 

 1881, p.' 92 ; 1882, p. 286; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 585 ; C. Swmhoe, 

 Ibis, 18S2, p. 117; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 174; Salvadori, Cat. 

 B. M. xxi,p. 451. 



Chota fakhta, Perki, Tortrufakhta, Paniuk, H. ; Hold, Mahr. ; Chitti 

 bella (juiua, Sowata guwa, Tel. ; Touta-pora, Tarn. 



Coloration. Head, neck, and breast lilac, tinged with vinous, 

 paler on the sides of the head ; chin whitish ; on the sides and 

 front of the lower neck is a gorget of black feathers, bind at the 

 end and broadly tipped with ferruginous ; back, wing-coverts near 

 the back, tertiaries, scapulars, rump, upper tail-coverts, and middle 

 tail-feathers light earthy brown; distal wing-coverts ashy; winglet 

 and greater primary-coverts blackish brown ; quills dark brown ; 

 outer tail-feathers with basal half blackish, terminal half white, 

 outer margin of outermost pair white throughout, the two pairs 

 next to the middle pair chiefly grey above ; the vinous breast passes 

 into white on the abdomen ; lower tail-coverts white ; wing-Jining 

 and flanks dark ashy grey. 



Bill blackish ; irides dark brown, with a whitish inner circle ; 

 legs lake-red (Jerdon). 



Length about 10'5 ; tail 4'75 ; wing 5 ; tarsus '85 ; bill from 

 gape *75. 



This Dove has been regarded as identical with the African 

 T. senegalensis, which, however, is quite distinct and has the upper 

 surface rufous. 



Distribution. Throughout almost the whole peninsula of India 

 from the base of the Himalayas, rare on the Malabar coast, and 

 unknown in Ceylon, also wanting in Lower Bengal and to the 

 eastward. This Dove is found in North-western India and the 

 Western Himalayas, in Sind, the Punjab, Kashmir, Turkestau, 

 Afghanistan and Baluchistan, and in Arabia. 



J-labits, $c. This and the next species are the most familiar of all 

 Indian doves, and are commonly found about houses ; they are 

 also abundant in bush-jungle, and are two of the commonest birds 

 everywhere. The call of T. cambayensis is "low, subdued, and 

 musical, a dissyllabic sound, repeated four or five times successively" 

 (Blytli). The present species breeds throughout the year and has 

 several broods yearly ; the nest, a slight one, is placed indifferently 

 on shrubs or low trees or in buildings, or occasionally on the 

 ground. The white glossy eggs measure about 1 by '85. 



