T. H. Newman—The Rosij-grey Turtle-dove and others. 101


in what he calls “ Up-to-date species-making He thinks every bird

has its name changed about once in each decade. He noted my paper

* on the Collared Turtle-dove of Burma, which he at last discovered to

be a form of the bird which has been known as the Indian Ring Dove,

Turtur risorius, of most of the older well-known writers on Indian

birds. He is greatly exercised on my daring to describe a new form,

and continues : “ Thus Mr. T. H. Newman has discovered that the

skin round the eye of the ring dove of Burma is not whitish, as it is in

India, but yellow ; Mr. Newman therefore manufactures a new sub¬

species, which he calls Turtur decaocta xanthocyclus, as opposed to the

Indian bird which he calls Turtur decaocta douraca. We may consider

ourselves lucky that he has not made a new sjDecies of the Burmese

bird ! ” I expressly stated that I did “ not for a moment think the

bird ” would ,£ be found worthy of specific rank As Mr. Dewar does

not seem to be acquainted with the Burmese bird, his objections cannot

be taken very seriously. The name douraca of 1844, being a nomen

nudum, cannot be used, but as the Indian bird has not yet been found to

possess constant distinguishing characteristics from the East European

form it can be united with the latter under typical decaocta, or, more

correctly, decaocto, as originally spelt. As this is the bird which has been

so persistently called “ risorius ”, I must once more run through

what has been written about it. The original reference is Columha

risoria, Linne, Syst. Nat., ed. x, i, p. 165 (1758), and on the strength of

Habitat in India, this has been supposed to refer to the common Ring

Dove of India; Linne based his name chiefly, among others, on the

“ Turtur Indians ” of Aldrovandus. Mr. Stuart Baker in Indian

Pigeons and Doves uses risoria for this species and accuses me, quite

correctly, of not referring to the works of Aldrovandus, Brisson, and

Linne. He mentions the figure published by Aldrovandus in 1637,

under the name of Turtur Indicus, the female of which was said to be

white with red feet and blackish bill. This figure, which Mr. Stuart

Baker calls “ an excellent plate of the Turtle-dove ” is not coloured,

and I agree with Dr. Hartert in thinking it might equally well represent

a Barbary Dove, or a wild Indian one or one of several African species.

There is nothing either in Aldrovandus’s long account or in those of

any of the other authors quoted by Linne which would lead one to



