700 COLUMBA INTERMEDIA. 



from Trincornalie. They arc met with in many places on the adjacent mainland ; and I have seen them flying 

 over the Peria-kerretje salt lake towards the remarkable rocky eminences rising up on its eastern shores. 

 Here there is probably a colony. 



In India it is a very abundant bird, and, contrary to its habit in Ceylon, is found much about " large 

 buildings, such as churches, pagodas, mosques, tombs, and the like, frequently entering the verandahs of 

 buildings and building in the crevices. Holes in walls of cities or towns, too, are favourite places ; and in 

 some parts of the country they prefer holes in wells, especially, I think, in the west of India, the Deccan, &c. 



The celebrated falls of Gaissoppa are tenanted by thousands of Blue Pigeons, which here associate with 



the large Alpine Swift " (Jerdon) . 



In the Deccan and in the Khandala district it is said to be very abundant and universally distributed ; 

 along the west coast there are various colonies, one of which is at the well-known Pigeon Island; and another at 

 the Vingorla rocks, where there is a cliff pierced from side to side by a tunnel-like cave, which, Mr. Hume tells 

 us, is tenanted by numbers of these birds. From either side of the peninsula it ranges west and east, and in 

 the former direction is numerous. Captain Butler remarks that it abounds in the Guzerat province. In Sindli 

 Mr. Hume found it abundant on the plains during the clay, returning to the hills to roost, and when grain is 

 ripening large flocks visit the neighbourhood of Jacobabad. It extends northward of Sindh, ranging into the 

 Suliman hills, where Mr. Ball noticed it, as well as its European relative. Along the sub-Himalayan districts 

 it is found as high up as Kotegurh, according to Hcrr von Pelzeln ; and he also records it from Pangi, which 

 has an elevation of 9000 feet. In Lower Bengal it is common, and in Chota Nagpur it is frequent, according 

 to Mr. Ball, in deep rocky gorges cut by the rivers in Sirguja and Udipur, as also in other suitable localities 

 throughout the division ; he likewise records it from Sambalpur and Orissa north of the Mahanadi river, and 

 from other localities in this eastern territory, while Mr. Hume notes it from Raipur. In Furreedpore it is very 

 common, according to Mr. Cripps, frequenting the ruins of indigo-factories and temples. Blyth asserts that 

 it is common in Burmah ; but I notice that Mr. Oates did not procure it in Pegu, nor Dr. Armstrong in the 

 Irrawaddy delta. Speaking of Tenasscrim, Mr. Hume remarks that it occurs nowhere in the province. If it 

 occurs in Northern Burmah, it must extend thither across to Siam ; for in the national collection I have seen 

 a specimen from that country not to be separated from Indian ones. Regarding its range northward of the 

 Himalayas, it is difficult to speak with certainty ; I find that it is doubtfully included by Dresser in Severtzoff's 

 list of Turkestan birds, reference being made to a Pigeon said by the latter to breed throughout the countiy 

 up to elevations of 4000 feet. Both C. livia and C. rupestris are found in Turkestan. 



Habits. — In Ceylon the Blue Rock-Pigeon is essentially an inhabitant of out-of-the-way, wild, and little- 

 frequented spots; the country does not, like India, abound in inland walled towns, temples, and pagodas, which 

 there are the natural resort of the species ; and it is consequently driven to such rocky localities as I have 

 alluded to above, and is not therefore nearly such a well-known bird as in India. The eastern and northern 

 Divisions of the island, however, teem with so many remarkable rocky masses, towering far above the circum- 

 jacent forests, such as the Friars Hood, " Westminster Abbey," the Elephant rock, the " Gunner's Coin," Sigiri 

 and Dambulla rocks, Rittagalla, Mahintalc, and a host more of nature's mighty castles, the very resorts of all 

 others for the " Blue Rock," that it has always been a wonder to me that the species is not far more numerous 

 than it is — the only solution of the problem being that these natural strongholds are situated too much in 

 forest-country, besides which there is a lack throughout Ceylon of the extensive cultivated tracts which are 

 necessary to the existence of this Pigeon. 



The islet off Nilavelc is a mass of rock, its coast-line consisting of enormous boulders, and its summit 

 divided by large crevices into huge "humps" of stone, on which, as well as ou the surrounding masses, the Pigeons 

 perch in scores. They fly across to the mainland in the early morning, and make their incursions over the 

 adjoining paddy-fields, returning about noon to their stronghold, where, though they are difficult of approach 

 when not feeding, they seem to evince little fear, owing probably to their being crammed with food. On the 

 occasion of a visit to this spot with a friend we shot numbers, but did not succeed in driving away the flock, 

 for they flew round and round over the water, and speedily realighted on the rocks. About 3 o'clock they start 

 off again to the mainland, flying very strongly ; aud they may be met with almost anywhere along the adjoining 

 sea-board during the afternoon. I have seen two or three at times feeding on the salt flats round the Nilavele 



