CARPOPHAGA iEXEA. 



(THE IMPERIAL GREEN PIGEON.) 



Palumbus moluccensis, Briss. Orn. i. p. 148. no. 41 (1760), "-ex Moluccis insulis." 



Columba aura. Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 283. no. 22 (1766) (ex Brisson). 



Columba sylvatica, Tickell, J. A. S. B. 1833, p. 581. 



Carpophaga cenea, G. E. Gray, Gen. of B. p. 468 (1844); Sclater, P. Z. S. 1863, p. 221 ; 

 Wallace, Ibis, 1865, p. 3S3 ; Walden, Ibis, 1873, p. 314; Hume, Str. Feath. 1874, 

 p. 260 ; Ball, t. c. p. 424 ; Legge, Ibis, 1S74, p. 399 ; Salvadori, Ucc. di Born. p. 290 

 (1874) ; Walden, Trans. Zool. Soc. 1875, ix. p. 215 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 496 

 (1875) ; id. Str. Feath. 1875, p. 163 ; Ball, ibid. 1876, p. 235 ; Armstrong, t. c. p. 337 ; 

 Inglis, ibid. 1877, p. 39 ; Ball, t. c. p. 418 ; Hume & Davison, ibid. 1878 (B. of Tenass.) 

 p. 417 ; Ball, ibid. vii. p. 224 ; Hume, List Ind. B., ibid. 1879, p. 109. 



( 'arpophaga sylvatica (Tick.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 231 (1849) ; Kelaart, Erodromus, 

 Cat. p. 130 (1852); Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 455 (1864) ; Wallace, Ibis, 1865, p. 383 

 (in part) ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 148 ; Swinhoe, P. Z. S. 1871, p. 396 ; Holdsw. F. Z. S. 

 1872, p. 466 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874. p. 24. 



Carpophaga pusilla, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 232 (1849); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. 

 Hist. 1854, xiv. p.-58 ; Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 148 (in part). 



Pigeon Ramier des Moluques, Temm. ; Imperial Pigeon, Sportsmen in India ; Large Green 

 Pit/eon, Wood-Pigeon, Europeans in Ceylon. Dunkul, Doomkul, Sona kabutra, Burra 

 harrial, Hind. ; Pogonnah, Malyalum ; KaJcarani guwa, Telugu (Jerdon) ; Berg Duyven, 

 Dutch in Ceylon (Layard) ; Maratham prdd, Tamils in North of Ceylon. 



Malta nila goya, lit. "Large Green Pigeon," Sinhalese; also Matabatagoya, Sinhalese north 

 of Kandy (Layard). 



. Idult trial and ft male. Length 15-5 to 16-2 inches ; wing 8-0 to S - 6, expanse 27 - ; tail 5-2 to 5-7 ; tarsus 1-0 to 1-1 : 

 middle toe and claw 1*7 to 1*75 ; bill to gape 1*3 to 1'35. 



Individuals of both sexes vary much in size. It is probable that some birds range beyond 8-6 inches in the wing. 

 Lord Tweeddale gives the wing-measurement of three Ceylonese examples as 8-25. Mr. Hume states the average 

 to be 8'0 ; this is, however, the minimum dimension ; 8-3 is about the average. 



Iris carmine-red; eyelid arterial red ; bill with the basal part greyish green and the tip light bluish, sides of the 

 lower mandible purplish ; legs and feet dull lake-red, soles yellowish ; claws olive. 



Head, ueck, throat, and under surface delicate bluish grey, purest, on the chest and palest on the abdomen, and more 

 or less suffused with vinous grey about the face and on the hind neck and breast ; chin, forehead close to base of 

 bill, and an orbital circle whitish ; back, rump, upper tail-coverts, aud wings metallic green, with a bright coppery 

 lustre, and pervaded with ashen wJu u vii wi >l against the li<//it : primaries deep plumbeous, suffused with green, the 

 outer webs with a greyish hue ; tail deep slaty greeu, the margins and tips of the feathers being shining green, 

 passing into obscure or slaty green at the shafts; lateral feathers paler than the rest; under surface of tail 

 yellowish grey and the shafts pale ; under tail-coverts liver-colour or deep chestnut ; thighs albescent internally, 

 pale lilac, like the abdomen, externally ; under wing-coverts slate-grey. 



Young. Immature birds are said to have the under tail-coverts paler than adults. Mr. Davison remarks that they 

 are ju^t as brightly glossed on the back, wings, and tail, but want the viuaceous tinge below. 



Tin- Imperial Green Pigeon(C. sylvatica) of India was long considered distinct from the Philippine and Malayan- 

 Archipelago species C. cenea. The late Marquis of Tweeddale, however, after a comparison of a large series from 



