COLUMBA INTERMEDIA. 



(THE INDIAN ROCK-PIGEON.) 



Columba intermedia, Strickland, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1844, xii. p. 39 ; Kelaart, Pro- 

 dromus, Cat. p. 130 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 59 ; Jcrdon, 

 B. of Ind. iii. p. 469 (1864) ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 149 ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 46 ; 

 Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 217 ; Ball, ibid. 1874, p. 425 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. 

 p. 499 (1875); Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 400; Ball, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 208; Butler & 

 Hume, ibid. 1876, p. 3; Ball, ibid. 1878, vii. p. 224 ; Cripps, t. c. p. 296. 



Columba oenas, Burgess, P. Z. S. 1855, p. 34. 



Columba lima, Adams, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 187. 



Columba livia, var., Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 233 (1849); Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, 

 p. 63 (1873). 



The Blue Bock-Piqeon of Sportsmen in India; Bock-Pigeon, Europeans in Ceylon. Kabutar, 

 Hind. ; Ghidi-pourai, lit. " Pagoda-Pigeon," Telugu ; Kovilpora, Tamil ; Parvi, Mahr. 

 (Jerdon) ; Mdda-jardd, Ceylonese Tamils. 



Adult male and ft malt . Length 13-2 to 13-5 inches ; wing S'G ; tail 4*25 : tarsus 1*1 to 1*2 ; middle toe and claw 1-25 : 

 bill to gape 0-95 to I/O : expanse 24-0. Weight 12 oz. 



Iris buff, mottled at the outer edge with red specks: eyelid plumbeous; bill blackish leaden; cere grey; legs and 

 feet pinkish red, claws black. 



Immediately after death the iris becomes yellowish red. 



Head and upper part of throat uuglossed dark bluish slate, the ear-coverts and cheeks generally the darkest, and 

 blending into the metallic green and amethystine reflections of the entire neck, chest, and upper part of the inter- 

 scapular region : back, wing-coverts, and secondaries pale slatish blue ; the greater coverts and secondaries crossed 

 by two black bands, the latter of which extends to the terminal portion of the tertials ; primaries slaty brown : 

 rump, upper tail-coverts, tail, and lower parts darker slate-blui than th< bach; the tail with a subtenninal black 

 band ; abdomen and thigh-coverts paler than the breast ; under wing-coverts and under surface of the quills at 

 the base whitish. 



Young. Iris sullied yellowish; legs and feet dusky reddish: head and neck brownish, the latter with very slight 

 metallic reflections ; wings brownish, with the dark bands narrow. Birds probably not quite mature have the 

 lower part of the hind neck less illumined with the metallic reflections, and the wing-bars narrower, with less black 

 on the tertials than in old birds. 



Obs. The Indian Rock-Pigeon differs from the European one in having the rump dark slate, instead of pure «hite. 

 The Ceylon race of this Pigeon is typical ('. intermedia, having the rump as dark as any specimens I have seen 

 from India. The species varies in this respect on the continent. Mr. Hume remarks that those he shot at the 

 Vingorla rocks and St. George's Island on the west coast were the most typical he had seen from any part of India : 

 they must therefore have been quite as dark as our Ceylonese birds. 



Strickland, who first discriminated and described the Indian Pigeon under its present title, thus remarks concerning 

 it: — "Distinguished, besides the banding and grey rump, by its black beak, and by the metallic-green feathers 

 entirely surrounding the neck." The last character is, I think, worthless ; but in the matter of its very dark colour 

 above and beneath, and of its rump, darker than the back, the typical C. intermedia is a good subspecies or local 

 race of the European bird. In the south of India and Ceylon there is scarcely any variation in the plumage, and 

 the birds inhabiting these parts constitute the subspecies. In the north-west of India and parts of the Himalayas the 

 intermediate races are evidently formed by the interbreeding of the two species, as everyone knows how prone 

 Pigeons are to interbreed. There is much difference of opinion as to the validity of our Indian species, owing to 

 the existence of intermediate forms ; but I incline to the belief that there were originally two very distinct forms — 

 the one ( C. livia) pale grey, with a pure white rump, the other (C. intermedia) leaden colour, with the rump darker 



