288 PALUMBIN.E. 



vinaceous-ruddy, paling on the belly, and albescent towards the 

 vent ; lower tail-coverts ashy ; tail with a broad pale band. 



Within our limits, the Himalayan Cushat only occurs on the 

 frontier near Jacobabad, and is very rare. I found it very com- 

 mon in Southern Afghanistan where it breeds. 



Palumbus elphinstonii, Sykes. 



786. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 465 ; Butler, Deccan ; 

 Stray Feathers, Vol. IX, p. 419. 



THE NEILGHERRY WOOD PIGEON. 



Length, 15 to 16 ; expanse, 25 ; wing, 8 to 8'25 ; tail, 575 

 to 6. 



Bill and orbits deep red, the former with a yellow tip ; irides 

 ochre-yellow ; legs and feet dull-red. 



Above, the head and neck ashy ; nuchal patch black, with small 

 white tips ; back of neck beyond this, and interscapulars, 

 cupreous-ruddy, with some green reflections ; rest of the upper 

 plumage ruddy-brown, becoming dark-ashy on the rump and 

 upper tail-coverts ; the wings dusky, the lesser-coverts mostly 

 ruddy-cupreous, and the other coverts and quills, which are dusky- 

 black, more or less edged with the same, and the outer primaries 

 conspicuously pale edged ; tail dull black ; beneath ashy, 

 albescent on the throat ; the neck and breast glossed with green, 

 and the lower abdomen and vent albescent. 



The Neilgherry Wood Pigeon is found on parts of the 

 Sahyadri Range ; it is not common anywhere, but appears to be 

 well known at Mahableshwar. 



GENUS, Palumbaena, Bonap. 



Feet fitted as much for perching as for walking on the ground. 

 In form, coloring, habits, and nidification intermediate between 

 Palumbus and Columba. 



Palumbaena eversmanni, Bonap. 



787. Jerdon's Birds of India, Vol. II, p. 467 ; Murray's Verte- 

 brate Zoology of Sind, p. 201. 



THE INDIAN STOCK PIGEON. 



Length, 11 '5 ; expanse, 24 ; wing, 8 ; tail, 4. 



^Bill yellowish; skin round the eye yellowish; irides buff; legs 

 with a yellowish tinge. 



^ Dark-ashy, with a whitish-grey rump ; crown and breast tinged 

 with vinaceous ; two or three black spots on the wings, forming the 

 rudiments of bands, and the end of the tail black, its outermost 

 feather white for the basal two-thirds of its exterior web, and 

 showing a black, and then a narrow grey band towards its 

 tip ; beneath the wings whitish, where dark-ashy in the 

 European bird. 



