ORB. RASORES. 



FAM. COLUMBID^. 



GEN. VINA GO. 



PLATE XXL 



VINA GO BICINCTA. 



PURPLE AND ORANGE BREASTED GREEN PIGEON 



Synon. — V. vernans Tar. Lesson. V. bicincta Jerdon, Catal. No. 289 and V. unicohr 



No. 289 bis. 

 The group of green pigeons has long been separated from the other pigeons 

 by Cuvier and Vieillot, but I see that the name given by the latter author ' Treron ' has 

 been adopted by Gray and others, having been first published, though Cuvier alleges that 

 he first named many of these genera in the museum of the ' Jardin des plantes' but he 

 did not publish them until the appearance of his ' Kegne animal,' and that in the mean time 

 Vieillot adopted the genera, and gave them names of his own. The group is a very natu- 

 ral one and contains a number of species, several from continental India, many from the 

 Malay countries, and some from Africa. They are distinguished by their green plumage, 

 thick soft bills, flat broad soles, the emarginate quills, and (the Indian species at least) by 

 their blue and red coloured irides. Their habits are strictly arboreal, and they feed on 

 fruit alone, never resorting to hard seeds like most of the family. 



The species of which the accompanying is a drawing was first described by 



myself in the Madras Journal. Strickland I see doubted its distinctness from V. vernans 

 of the Malay countries, but Mr. Blyth who has procured both fully recognises it as a distinct 

 though closely allied species,and has sent me specimens of each for comparison. Our peninsular 

 bird is a rare, and by no means abundant species. I have only seen it myself on two or three 

 occasions, and always in the close vicinity of the sea ; once in the Northern Circars,once in the 



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