264 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ORNITHOLOGY OF INDIA. 



one specimen in the Andamans, and one rag of a thing in 

 Chowra, which has only eleven tail feathers ; both outside 

 ones wanting and one of the others ; bnt Lieutenant Ramsay 

 was more fortunate, he got six I believe one day from a soldier, 

 and Lord Walden will, therefore, soon have an opportunity of 

 ascertaining certainly whether this bird has twelve or fourteen 

 rectrices ; but in either case it is much more nearly affined to 

 Carpophaga than lanthcenas, and any one may make a new 

 genus of it who likes. 



Davison writes : — " I was very unfortunate in securing spe- 

 cimens of this pigeon ; I shot the type specimen at Port Mouat 

 just before starting to the Nicobars, and although during my 

 absence at these, Lieutenant Wardlaw Ramsay secured several,' 

 not one was to be found on my return to Port Blair. 

 I got one specimen at the Nicobars ; it was shot on Chowra Island 

 by General Stewart, who very kindly gave me the specimen. 

 I know nothing special of the habits of this fine species, which 

 seemed to me in every respect an Imperial pigeon. I found 

 the one I shot at Port Mouat sitting on a low branch by the 

 side of a forest path ; it was not at all shy, and allowed me to 

 get close enough to shoot it with the walking stick gun ; it had 

 swallowed several fruit about the size of a walnut, two of 

 them with stalks, about two inches long, and as thick as a 

 goose quill, attached. " 



There were numerous small parties of this bird in Macpherson's 

 Straits, which repeatedly passed over us, flying from the tops 

 of the trees on the hill slopes on one side to similar positions 

 on the other, and of course well out of shot. One party settled 

 high up on Bird Island, a tiny precipitous wooded islet, and 

 though we could hear their loud deep coo, and from the waters 

 edo-e, watch them feeding, scuffling, and making love on the 

 branches of the highest central trees, we could see nothing of 

 them, when with infinite trouble we worked a way up to near 

 the base of these trees, though we could still hear them. 



I have no doubt that this species is a permanent resident of 

 the Andamans and Nicobars, moving as le bicolor" does from 

 island to island, as the different fruits and berries which con- 

 stitute the sole food of these large pigeons, ripen. 



781 quat.— Carpophaga Tbicolor, Scop. (41.) 



This bird breeds commonly in the Nicobars where we shot 

 many nestlings though no eggs were obtained. To the Anda- 

 mans and the Great Cocos, Barren Island, and Narcondam, it is 

 a seasonal visitant. There were none at the Great Cocos when 



