50 COLUMBIA. 



In the young the head is transversely barred above, with or 

 Avithout indications of metallic colour, according to age ; the breast 

 with dark bars in males. 



Bill blackish ; iris white, surrounded by a rim of pale lilac ; 

 orbital skin grey, with an inner rim of purple ; legs purplish pink 

 ( Wardlaw Kumsay}. 



Length about 16; tail 8; wing 7'5 ; tarsus -85; bill from 

 gape 1. 



Distribution. Throughout the Himalayas as far west as Simla 

 from 3000 to about 10,000 feet elevation, also in Assam and the 

 hills to the southward, and on the hills of Karennee and Tenas- 

 serim. M. leptogrammwa, from the Malay Peninsula, Java, and 

 Sumatra, is scarcely distinct, but it is smaller, with broader cross- 

 bars. 



Habits, fyc. Those of the genus. The voice, according to Jerdon, 

 is a deep, repeated coo. This bird breeds in the Himalayas from 

 May to July, but a nest was found in the Karen Hills on March 

 18th by "Wardlaw Ramsay. The eggs, two in number, are creamy 

 white, nearly equally pointed at both ends, moderately glossy, and 

 measure about 1-35 by '97. They are laid in a large loose platform 

 nest of sticks on a branch at no great height from the ground. 



1313. Macropygia rufipennis. The Andaman CucJcoo-Dove. 



Macrop.vgia rufipennis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. xv, p. 371 (1846) ; id. 

 Cat'?. 234; Ball, S. F. i, p. 80; Waldm, Ibis, 1878, p. 314; 

 Hume, S. F. ii, p. 266 ; id. Cat. no. 721 bis ; Wnrdl. Rams. Ibis, 

 1890, p. 224 ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 344. 



Coloration. Head all round chestnut, .darker and with a slight 

 lilac gloss on the crown, whitish on the chin and throat; rest of 

 upper parts dark brown, more rufous on the edges of the wing- 

 coverts, and on the rump, upper tail-coverts, and tail ; hind neck 

 and upper back minutely speckled and barred with black and 

 rufous buff, and occasionally showing a slight amethystine gloss ; 

 outer tail-feathers bright rufous at base and tips, blackish between ; 

 fore neck, sides of lower neck, breast, and abdomen light brown 

 with wavy black cross-bars, the breast and sides of the neck often 

 with metallic gloss ; under tail-coverts, wing-lining, and inner 

 webs of quills, except towards the end, ferruginous red. 



The female, according to Wardlaw Ramsay, resembles the male. 

 Toung birds (formerly described as adults by Hume) have the 

 feathers of the head light chestnut with black edges, the bars on 

 the hind neck and back are broader than in adults, the upper 

 wing-coverts and quills are broadly edged with rufous, and the 

 lower parts are chestnut throughout, the edges of the feathers 

 slightly darker, but cross-bars are wanting. 



Bill and legs purplish pink ; iris light blue, encircled by a ring 

 of carmine ; orbital skin leaden blue (Wnrdl. Ramsay}. 



Length about 16; tail 8; wing 7'5; tarsus '95; bill from 

 gape 1. 



Distribution. The Andaman and jXicobar Islands. 



