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Mr. T. H. Newman,



Feathers,” II., p.519 (1874). A description, accompanied by an

excellent coloured plate, is given in Sharpe’s “ Second Yarkand

Mission.” Hume’s name is of course only a synonym of

Frivaldsky’s.


I have gone into the foregoing dry details because hitherto

no one seems to have pointed out that it is this big north-eastern

race which must be regarded as the typical form and not the

Indian bird which has persistently been confounded with

Linnaeus’ ‘risoria ’ and so been held to have had that honour. If

local forms are to be separated, the Indian Collared Turtle must

be regarded as a sub-species of T. decaocta and for this form

Hodgson’s name ‘ douraca ’ founded on a bird from Dhourakha*

(Nepal) is available. This was not published till 1844, six years

after the appearance of Frivaldsky’s work. The typical bird is

said to differ from the Indian form, by being much larger,

having a broader nucal collar more conspicuously edged above

and below with white, 'and more white on the outer tail feathers

and with the secondaries and their coverts a pale pearl grey.

As all these seem to be variable features, they are perhaps rather

slight evidence for separation, but taken altogether they differ¬

entiate the two forms quite as much as is usual among local

races.


Having now got so far, viz.:—that the Asiatic Collared

Turtle rejoices in the name of Turtur decaocta, decaocta while its

representative from India is T. decaocta douraca, I will now

come to the bird from Burma, which I believe to be another and

hitherto unnoticed form, much more distinct and easily

recognisable than those already known.


On the 20th of October, 1896, three Turtle-doves were

received at the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London,

having been presented, along with a large collection of reptiles

by Mr. W. G. Bligh, who thus wrote about them (P.Z.S. 1896,

p. 783), “ These reptiles were all obtained in the Minbu and

Mague districts of Upper Burmali.” Both these places are

situated on the Irawady about Lat. 20. There seems no reason

to doubt that the Turtle-doves also came from here. One of



* I have not been able to find this place on the map, but the name ‘ douraca ’ occurs

in a list of Nepalese birds, so I presume it is ill Nepal.—T. H. N.



