COLUMBA INTERMEDIA. 699 



than the back ; and any races with at all a whitish rump, whether the albescent coloration be of small or great 

 extent, I would class as strictly belonging to C. livia. The real character of the Indian species is that its rump is 

 darker instead of lighter than the back. 



C'olumba rupestris, Pallas, " The Blue Hill-Pigeon," the Asiatic pied race of C. livia, might equally well be styled a variety 

 of the present species, and differs from it mainly in the white colour of the tail ; the lower back, rump, and a broad 

 bar across the tail are white ; but the upper tail-coverts and the base of the tail are slate-grey, and the tip of the 

 latter is very dark grey ; the interscapular region and wings are pale slate-grey, the chest vinaceous, and the lower 

 breast and abdomen albescent slaty grey. An example from the Altai Mountains measures — wing 8-5 inches, 

 tail 4 - 5. It is found in Central Asia and Turkestan, and has been killed in Kumaon. 



An example of G. livia from Mesopotamia measures 8-4 inches in the wing, and has the interscapular region and wing- 

 coverts pale grey, and the lower back and rump pure white ; the hind neck is not so highly illumined with green and 

 copper-colour as in the Indian bird ; the under surface is pale bluish grey. A Jericho specimen is slightly darker 

 beneath. I notice these two as examples of this Pigeon from regions not very remote from India. In Cashmere 

 Mr. Hume says an intermediate form exists with less of the pure white on the rump ; but he has received the 

 true livia from Sindh ; and I observe that he allows Mr. Cripps's identification of it in Purreedpore to stand. 



Distribution. — There are several isolated colonies of this fine Pigeon round the coast of Ceylon ; but they 

 are not restricted to two localities, as Layard and others have supposed. His remarks are : — " Extremely local, 

 being confined to two places, ' Pigeon Island/ off Trincomalie, and a rock off the southern coast near Barberryn. 

 From these it, of course, makes incursions into the interior, and I have heard of specimens being shot at Vavonia- 

 Vlancolom, on the great central road, about fifty miles from Trincomalie." 



The truth is, there are more colonies of these birds in the interior than one supposes. Those seen at 

 Vavonia-Vlancolom evidently have their home in some of the isolated rocky masses which are characteristic 

 of the northern forests. It is possible there may be a colony near Mahintale. There is a large one in a 

 precipitous gorge through which the stream flows, which is crossed by the bridge just to the north of Nalanda. 

 Here my friend Mr. Simpson, of the Indian telegraph-department, who informed me of the existence of the 

 colony, has, on several occasions, had good sport, and thither people resort from Matale to shoot the Pigeons. 

 There is another colony at the Hatagalla rocks, about 15 miles west of Hambantota; and I dare say there are others 

 round the east coast, between there and Batticaloa. From inquiries I made at Ambalangoda, I imagine that the 

 Barberryn rocks near Bentota are deserted, and consequently I did not visit them, but I may have been mis- 

 informed. The rocky islet which is so much frequented by these Pigeons, near Nilavele, is not Pigeon Island 

 itself, but a small island of about two or three acres in extent, half a mile nearer the shore, and about 13 miles 



Macropygia maceotjea, Gmelin {Tourterelle a large queue die Senegal, Buffon, PL Enl. 329). — This Cuckoo-Dove 

 was said by Bonaparte to inhabit Ceylon ; but no one has ever seen it in the island, as far as I, or any other person who 

 has paid any attention to the ornithology of Ceylon, can ascertain. It is uot likely that a large bird like a Cuckoo-Dove 

 could have been passed over all these years ; it would have been recognizable on the wing by reason of its long tail, 

 even if it had not actually been procured. The only evidence we have as to this Pigeon being a Ceylon bird is contained 

 in the simple statement by Bonaparte (Consp. ii. p. 57), " ex Ceylon, nee Senegal." 



The Marquis of Tweeddale, in a note to Mr. Holdsworth on this subject, remarks that it is doubtful whether Bonaparte 

 ever saw the bird, the diagnosis given by him (loc. cit.) only containing " the prominent characters discernible in Buffon's 

 plate." Buffon, who figured this Pigeon from a Senegal example presented by Adanson under the name of " Tourterelle 

 ;i large queue du Senegal," is, writes the Marquis, " most circumstantial in his account of the locality whence his bird 

 was obtained; and the fact that the specimen bore a title given by Adanson strongly corroborates the Senegal origin." I 

 am under the impression myself that Bonaparte got his information from a perusal of Temminck's remarks (Hist, des 

 Colombes, p. 345) in reference to this Cuckoo-Dove — " Levaillant m'a dit avoir vu des individus rapportes de Ceylon." 

 There could be no more broken reed to trust to in a matter of geographical distribution than Levaillant ! 



There are examples in the British Museum labelled as this species, one of which measures in the wing 6'3 and in 

 the tail 8-5 inches. It is of a dusky coppery red on the back and upper tail-coverts ; tail brownish copper-colour ; head 

 and sides of neck vinaceous, illumined with bronze-colour ; chest and underparts fulvous tawny, with bronze reflections, 

 each feather with a black wavy cross bar ; flanks and under tail-coverts light cinnamon-colour. Species of Cuckoo-Dove 

 found in the Indo-Malaccan region are: — 21. tusalia, Hodgson, from the Eastern Himalayas ; M. rujiceps, Temm., and 

 M. assimilis, Hume, from Tenasserim ; and M. rufipennis, Blyth, from the Nicobars. 



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