THE ISLANDS OF THE BAT OF BENGAL. 271 



798 ter.— Calcenas nicobarica, Lin. (54.-.) 



The real head-quarters of this magnificent pigeon are, I believe, 

 situated on the uninhabited, and all but inaccessible, island of 

 Batty Malve. Our party was certainly the first of Europeans 

 who landed on this island ; the natives too, according to the 

 accounts of the Nicobarese, never visit the place, there being no 

 fruiting pandanus, and very few cocoanuts, but still some one 

 had at some time visited the island since the remains of a tiny 

 hut, and the ashes of a fire were met with. 



On this island the birds swarm by thousands, and in the 

 early morning may be seen flying from the island in flocks out 

 to sea, doubtless to other islands of the group to feed. When 

 well up in the air their flight is swift and powerful, and they 

 remind one much of sand grouse. We killed an enormous 

 number on this one island, and including specimens shot on 

 Katchall and Treis, &c, we actually preserved fifty-four. 



The following is a resume of the dimensions of this species. 

 The sexes do not apparently differ in any way either in size or 

 plumage, though perhaps the hackles of the females do average 

 somewhat shorter : — 



Length, 15*25 to 165; expanse, 30 to 32 '5 ; wing, 9*8 to 

 106 ; tail, from vent, 3"1 to 3 - 82 ; tarsus, 1'55 to T85 ; bill, 

 from gape, 1*4 to 1*6 ; bill, at front, adult 0"95 to 1*1 ; in the 

 nestlings and quite young birds the frontal feathers do not 

 advance nearly so far forward, and in these the bill varies from 

 1*2 to 1'4; closed wings reach exactly to the end of tail; in 

 weight they vary from 1*25 to 1*75 lbs. 



The legs and feet vary from pinkish lake to dull purplish 

 lilac ; the claws are chrome yellow ; the soles, dull greyish yel- 

 low ; bill, cere, and fleshy protuberance at the base of the cul- 

 men (which by the way appears to be less developed in the 

 female than in the malej, dark blackish grey or deep slatey ; 

 the irides are deep brown. 



In the adult the entire tail and longer lower, and upper 

 tail-coverts are pure white ; the entire head and neck all round 

 deep slatey grey, blackish slatey, or even blackish brown in some ; 

 from the base of the occiput, and the whole back of the neck, 

 stream down a thick bunch of narrow hackles ; those from the 

 occiput more or less disintegrated and hair like, while those from 

 the base of the nape are more regular feathers ; the former 

 entirely dark slatey grey, the latter metallic green, shot with 

 gold and copper, and margined everywhere with this slatey 

 grey. The whole of the rest of the upper plumage, excluding 

 the tail and longer upper tail coverts, is refulgent with metallic 



