120 CHALCOPHAPS INDICA. 



Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth, on Ceylonese birds (P. Z. S. 1872, p. 467), 

 writes thus: — "This handsome Dove is found in all parts of ihe island, 

 except the north. I have met with it in cultivated districts near Colombo 

 and in the extreme south, on the road through the forest between Kandy and 

 TrincomaliC;, and at Nuwara Eliya, where at the end of the year it frequents 

 the jungle in great numbers. It has a low rapid flight and a peculiar 

 moaning coo more like the note of some Owls than that of a Dove. Ceylon, 

 India, eastward to Tenasserim." 



Mr. R. Swinhoe (P. Z. S. 1871, p. 348) has made some valuable remarks 

 on the way in which the Hoopoe produces its notes and Pigeons their coo. 

 He says : — " It is generally supposed that the song of a bird is produced by 

 actions of the lower larynx on air passing up the bronchial tubes onwards 

 and outwards through the main tube or trachea. The trachea of the Hoopoe 

 is not dilatable ; but its oesophagus is ; and the puffing of its neck is caused 

 by the bulging of its oesophagus with swallowed air. There is no connexion 

 between the oesophagus and the trachea, and apparently no organ at the 

 entrance of the former that could modify sound. What action, then, can 

 this swallowed air be made to take in the production of the bird's notes ? 

 Pigeons have strikingly large air- crops, which they empty with each long 

 coo, and refill before they coo again. Many birds swell out the throat when 

 calling or singing, and others move it up and down ; these actions must also 

 be caused by the swallowed air in the oesophagus, and must modify the 

 sounds in some way as variously used, adding power and richness in some 

 cases or giving ventriloquistic eff^ect in others. ... As regards Pigeons, 

 Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier suggests ' that the dilated oesophagus and crop serve 

 as a chamber of resonance, the air in which, being thrown into vibration, may 

 be expelled to produce a louder sound.' " 



Wishing to know more of this species, I obtained a pair of Chalcophaps 

 indica from Mr. Jamrach, and they are now in my possession. I observe 



