THE PIGEONS. 



181 



courtesies and a not very musical coo. So strong and rapid 

 on the wing is it, that if turned out in the open, I feel 

 sure it would be esteemed by sportsmen as a useful minor 

 game-bird. 



The last Pigeon I shall deal with is a representative of the 

 beautiful group of green Fruit-Pigeons, so characteristic 

 of the warm regions of the old world. 



THE HURRIAL (Crocopus phcenicopterus) is about as 

 big as a common domestic Pigeon, but stouter in make, 

 with the wings, tail, and legs shorter. Its bill is stout 

 and strong for a Pigeon's. Its plumage is soft and 

 extremely beautiful ; the general colour being a yellowish- 

 green, becoming almost yellow on the neck and breast ; 

 the underparts below this, the back of the head, a collar 

 round the neck, and the end of the tail, are French grey. 

 There is a narrow yellow stripe across the wings, and the 

 thighs are yellow ; at the bend of the wing is a lilac 

 patch, and a buff-and-chestnut one under the tail. The 

 bill is bluish- white, greenish at the root ; the feet are orange 

 yellow, and the eyes blue with an outer ring of red. The 

 hen is very like the cock, but slightly smaller and usually 

 with less of the pale purple on the wing ; but the sexes 

 are not easy to distinguish in this species. 



This, the common Green Pigeon of Bengal and Burma, 

 is found eastwards as far as Siam ; to the west it 

 extends along the base of the Himalayas to the 

 Jumna, but in Northern India it meets the Southern 

 Hurrial (Crocopus chlorogaster) of the Indian Peninsula 

 and Ceylon. This bird, in its typical form, is all 

 greenish-yellow beneath, showing no grey on the belly; 



