1 68 On some habits of the Kokla in confinement.


bird is just about a year old, and has not yet moulted. When it

does moult, I daresay further differences in its plumage will be

apparent.


Blyth’s account of the caged specimen which had moulted ,

and which he described as Vinago cantillans is interesting, and

as it is buried in the Journals of the Asiatic Society of Bengal

(Vol. xii., pp. 166-167), which are not easy of access, I reproduce

it below practically in extenso : —


“Predominant hue a delicate pearl-grey, conspicuously tinged with

ruddy on the crown and breast: fore-part of the wings maroon-red, which

also deeply tinges the scapularies and interscapularies : belly faintly tinged

with yellowish-green, and a trace of dingy green margining the rump

plumage and the smallest tertiaries, also prevailing on the coverts of the

secondaries, the greater series of which are slightly bordered with whitish-

yellow : primaries and secondaries dusky, together with the extremities of

the outer tail feathers : vent white, the feathers of its sides having dark

ashy centres ; and lower tail-coverts whitish-buff, being more or less ashy at

base. Irides as usual in this genus, or having a crimson ring encircling a

violet one. bill and bare skin around the eye glaucous-blue; and legs and

toes reddish carneous. This remarkable species is essentially a Vinago,

though differing considerably from the typical species in the form of its bill

and feet; insomuch that it might, with propriety, be elevated to the rank

of a particular subgenus: the former is comparatively slender and elon¬

gated, having the basal three-fifths membranous and tumid, and the

corneous extremity feeble ; and the toes also are slender, and not broadened

underneath. The specimen described was purchased alive, and was said to

have been brought from Agra; but some shikarees to whom I shewed it

decidedly recognised the species, at once remarking on the peculiarity of

its note, and said that it is procurable in the Soonderbuns. Its coo is ex-


tremelv remarkable . This bird was sold to me as the Kokla Pigeon


of the Upper Provinces, great numbers of which are kept in cages by the

natives, for the sake of their music ; but enquiry has led me to ascertain

that V. sphenura is the true Kokla of the Upper Provinces, whereas in

Bengal this term is applied to V. bicincta , Jerdon, both of these species

differing from the common Hurrial (V. militaris ) by having coral-red legs

instead of gamboge yellow ones, which is generally mentioned as the dis¬

tinctive feature of th ft Kokla ; the V. bicincta , however, has a less musical,

or at least less varied, note than the Hurrial. The coo of the latter, if such

it can be called, consists of a melodious deep-toned whistling note, varied

by a guttural sound ; and those who are unacquainted with it, would be apt

to mistake it for the note of a true singing bird: that of V. bicincta is

equally melodious, but less prolonged as well as less varied. I know of only

the two last-named species of this genus in the vicinity of Calcutta.”



