TITETUK RISORIUS. 



(THE COMMON INDIAN DOVE.) 



Columha risoria, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 285 (1760). 



Turtur risorius, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 238 (1849); Kelaart, Proclromus, Cat. 



p. 130 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 59; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, 



p. 151 ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 397 ; Hnnie, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 218; Adam, t. c. 



p. 390; Hume, Nests and Eggs, hi. p. 506 (1875); id. Str. Feath. 1875, p. 165; 



Butler & Hume, ibid. 1876, p. 3 ; Fairbank, ibid. 1877, p. 409. 

 Turtur risoria, Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 481 (1864) ; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 467 ; Legge, 



Ibis, 1874, p. 26; Ball, Str. Feath. 1878, vii. p. 224. 

 The Common Ring-Dove, The Collared Turtle-Dove of authors ; Turtle-Dove, Grey Dove, 



Europeans in Northern Province, Ceylon. Pomba de Cinsa, Portuguese in Ceylon ; 



Dhor fachta, Hind, in the south; Kalhak, Pauk-ghughu, Bengal.; Pedda bella-guwa, 



Telugu (Jerdon) ; Rhujel Dwjven, Dutch in Ceylon ; CaUij-prdd, Ceylonese Tamils (from 

 " Cally," Euphorbia), Layard. 

 Kobceya, Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female. Length 11-8 to 12-5 inches; wing G-2 to G - 5 ; tail 5'1 to 5-5; tarsus 095 to 1*0 : middle toe 

 and claw 1-05 to 1-2 ; bill to gape 0-9. 



Iris crimson ; orbital skin bluish white ; bill blackish : legs and feet purple-red ; claws black. 



Head, nape, sides of neck, throat, fore neck, and breast delicate vinous grey, the head marked with ashy, the breast 

 passing into delicate bluish ashy grey on the lower parts ; chin white ; round the hind neck to about the centre of 

 its sides a black collar, the feathers above it edged with delicate bluish white ; lower part of hind neck, back, wing- 

 coverts, upper tertials, upper tail-coverts, and central tail-feathers above brownish gre}', suffused with bluish ashy 

 on the sides of the rump, and with the scapulars and lesser wing-coverts edged pale; primaries dark brown, with 

 pale margins towards their tips; primary-coverts and secondaries with their coverts, together with the feathers 

 at the point of the wing, bluish ashy ; beneath, the basal part of all but the central rectrices black, with the terminal 

 half white, the upper surface being suffused with bluish ashy, and washed outwardly with brownish towards the 

 centre of the tail ; on the lateral outer web the black projects towards the tip: under tail-coverts darker ashy thau 

 the lower parts, and the under wing-coverts ashy white. 



> - . Immature birds are said to lie reddish above: some that I have seen have the head vinous grey; these are 

 probably not adults. 



Obs. A comparison of examples from Eamptee with my Ceylonese skins enables me to say that our birds are not 

 characterized by any tints not present in Indian birds; the birds in question are identical with mine as regards 

 the hues of the back, head, and underparts : wing (i-4 inches. The specimens from Cor es Safiek, Palestine, are 

 slightly paler than mine in the back, but otherwise the same; they are slightly larger — wing (>■(} and 0-7 inches 

 respectively. A Baluchistan skin is brown on the back and head, and the chest is more ruddy than others. 



Mr. Hume separates the Turkestan race (Str. Feath. 1^74, p. 519) as T. stoliezlcce on account of its larger size, broader 

 and whiter nuchal collar, and more deeply tipped fail-feathers. The wing in his type specimen measures 7'35 inches. 



There is much difference of opinion as to which species the Domestic Eing-Dove sprung from originally; Blyth says: — 

 • ( )f several kindred races I do not know one that can be satisfactorily assigned as the true origin of the common 

 i age-bird." The note of the latter is quite different from T. risorius and it is smaller. The two interbreed well. 



Distribution. — The Turtle-Dove is remarkably local in Ceylon, being apparently a bird of the driest districts 

 of the north of the Jaffna peninsula and the west coast down as far as Puttalam. The note is so very peculiar 

 and so totally unlike that of T. suratensis, the common Ceylon species, that it cannot fail to serve as a sure 



