CAEPOPHAGA iENEA. 719 



the Philippines, Java, Sumatra, India, Burrnah, and the Andamans, united the two races under the Linnean title. 

 I have compared examples from Hainan, Java, Sumatra, Andamans, Lombok, Borneo, Negros, and Madras with 

 Ceylonese skins, and am fully convinced that there is but the one species of this particular Pigeon, which varies 

 greatly in size in different localities, the smallest race inhabiting Ceylon and South India, and the largest birds 

 being found in Burmah, Borneo, Lombok, and the Philippines (those from the latter locality exceeding all others), 

 and which is likewise subject to variation in the coppery hue of the back and the vinous tinting of the under 

 surface, but unaccompanied by any corresponding alteration in the distribution of colour, and not in such a 

 systematic way as to warrant the discrimination of any of the most aberrant specimens as distinct species. 

 A Madras example which I have compared with my Ceylonese skins has more white round the gape and on the chin 

 (a variable character, however), back and wings slightly more coppery, and the under surface more suffused 

 with vinaceous. An Andaman example (wing 8-9) and one from Sumatra (wing 9-2) are more vinaceous on the 

 nape than my birds, but the white of the forehead, the green of the back, and the tints of the under surface 

 are the same. The Andaman bird has a good deal of white on the chin. Mr. Hume says that, as a race, the 

 birds from these islands are very large, and greener with deeper-coloured under tail-coverts and whiter foreheads than 

 continental birds. He gives the wing-measurement at 8-5 to 9-5 inches. Lord Walden's measurements (Ibis, 1873) 

 of seven specimens are 8-5 to 9-25. Two females from Sarawak measure 8-8 and 9-1 respectively in the wing, have 

 the green of the back less coppery and the underparts more vinaceous than Ceylon skins, but are otherwise the 

 same. The reddish tinge of the under surface is doubtless a mark of age, as we have seen from Mr. Davison's 

 description of a young bird. A Lombok example measures 9-5 inches in the wing, and is identical with one of mine 

 from Saffragam. Birds from the Philippine Islands have a stronger coppery lustre on the back than any I have 

 seen ; the hind neck is less vinaceous too, the abdomen and lower breast are more vinaceous than the chest, and 

 the primaries, as in Sumatran and Bornean birds, have a very strong grey tinge on the outer webs : wing 9 - 7 inches. 

 A Hainan specimen corresponds well with one from Madras ; it is slightly ruddier on the head : wing 8'9. A 

 Burmese skin is extremely red on the lower parts : wing 9 - 5. I observe that all these long-winged birds from 

 various localities appear to be no larger in head and feet than smaller- winged individuals, and, further, that they 

 have not the tail proportionately lengthened ; the primaries are simply more or less attenuated, the tips thus 

 prolonged causing the extra length of wing. Ceylonese and South-Indian birds have the tips of the primaries 

 peculiarly round in comparison to the large examples in question. Mr. Hume finds the average of Anjango 

 birds to be 8-25 inches in the wing, and of Calicut and Mlghiri 8-5 to 8-75. Blyth described the birds inhabiting 

 South India as a smaller race under the title of G. pusilla, and placed Layard's Ceylonese specimens with it : 

 but Jerdon did not consider it distinct from Tickell's bird from Central India, and states that Blyth's name was 

 founded on a peculiarly small specimen. 



This genus of magnificent Pigeons — the princes of their family, the Treronidse — is a very extensive one, extending from 

 India through the Malay archipelago, where it is chiefly developed, to Australia and New Zealand. In the archi- 

 pelago there are not a few species resembling the present, some of which are characterized by a knob at the base of 

 the bill, much developed in the male at the breeding-season : these form Bonaparte's division Globicera. The under 

 tail-coverts are liver-coloured in all the allied forms. 



C. paulina, Temm., a Philippine species found in Menado, has a bright reddish nape, and the face, head, and throat 

 vinaceous. It is allied to C. cenea, but easily distinguished by the characters mentioned. "Wing of a specimen 

 from Menado, 8 - 5 inches. 



C. pacifica (Gm.) is a fine species, allied to the present and seemingly very close to it ; the head and hind neck are of a 

 different grey colour ; the back and wings much as in O. cenea. A Samoan example has the wing 9-4 inches. 



C. neglecta, Schleg., a Moluecan form, is larger than O. cenea, the back, rump, and wings brighter green, the head, throat, 

 and under surface grey, not tinged with vinaceous. Wing 10-0 inches, tail 6-6 (Ceram). 



C. tumida, "Wallace. Back and wings deep bronzed green : head, entire neck, and underparts delicate grey, tinged 

 with vinaceous on the hind neck, breast, and belly ; at the base of the upper mandible is a large knob. Wing 

 of a Waigiou example 9-5 inches. Belonging to another group are C. insularis, Blyth, from the Nicobars, and 

 0. perspicillata from Bouru. The former is larger than C. cenea on the whole, and has the under tail-coverts dingy 

 brown, which constitutes its chief difference. A new species (C. palumboides, Hume) from the Andamans belongs 

 to another subgroup ; it has the lower parts dusky slate-blue, the under tail-coverts blackish, and the head and 

 face pale grey. 



The fine Bronze-backed Imperial Pigeon, C. cuprea, Jerd., of Southern India, and its northern representative, C. in- 

 signis, Hodgs., belong to quite another group, and are inhabitants chiefly of mountainous regions. It is a matter 

 worthy of comment that the southern bird or an insular representative of it has not been found in our mountains. 

 0. cuprea is an abundant species, according to Mr. Bourdillon, in the Travancore hills. 



Distribution. — This mag-nificent Pigeon is exceedingly abundant in all the well-wooded and forest-clad 



