COLUMBA INTERMEDIA. 701 



lake, but what they were picking up I do not know. They are very destructive to the paddy, and devour 

 an enormous quantity at a time, extending their crops with it to such an extent that I have taken a mode- 

 rately-sized salt-cellar full from a specimen I was skinning. 



In India they assemble in vast flocks in the cold season, and there no doubt do great damage wherever 

 there is grain. As I have already set forth in my quotation from Jerdon, they dwell chiefly in architectural 

 and not natural strongholds, the many temples, mosques, tombs, &c. with which the country abounds affording 

 them ample shelter in districts where there are no rocks and caves. These resorts are, prima facie, building- 

 places, but are used as nightly roosting-abodes, and the Pigeons can be strictly said to dwell there. The note 

 of this Pigeon much resembles that of some of the domesticated varieties of the " Rock ; " it is entirely a 

 grain-feeder, and does not, as far as I am aware, perch on trees. 



Nidification, — -In the Trincomalie district these Pigeons breed in May and June ; I have shot the young 

 birds in October, but have never taken the eggs. In India Mr. Hume writes that the breeding-season lasts 

 from Christmas until May-day, and observes as follows : — "The nest is chiefly composed of thin sticks and twigs, 



but is often more or less lined with leaves of the tamarisk, feathers, &c When undisturbed they will 



breed in incredible multitudes. At the grand old fort of Deig in Bhurtpoor, where, as in most parts of 

 Rajpootana, they are sacred, and even a European who molested them would risk his life, several hundred 

 thousand pairs must live and breed ; a gun fired on the moat towards evening raises a dense cloud, obscuring 

 utterly the waning day, and deafening one with the mighty rushing sound of countless strong and rapidly- 

 plied pinions." 



The eggs are glossy pure white, varying a good deal in size and shape, and averaging from 1*45 to 

 1*12 inch. 



Genus TURTITR. 

 Bill slender, the horny apical portion much less than the soft basal part, and slightly arched. 

 Wings moderately long and pointed, the 2nd or the 3rd quill the longest. Tail large, rounded 

 at the tip; graduated in some. Legs and feet somewhat slender; the tarsus longer than the 

 middle toe, covered with broad transverse scutes in front. Lateral toes equal. 



Of delicate form. Head small. Neck ornamented with a demi-collar or patch of pale-tipped 

 feathers. 



