OSMOTEEEON BICINCTA. 



(THE ORANGE-BREASTED GREEN PIGEON.) 



Vinago bicincta, Jerdon, Cat. B. S. India, Madr. Journ. 1840, xii. p. 13. no. 289 ; id. 111. 



Ind. Orn. pi. 21 (1847). 

 Treron bicincta (Jerd.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 229 (1849) ; Kelaart, Prodromus, Cat. 



p. 130 (1852); Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 57. 

 Osmotreron bicincta, Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 449 (1864) ; Beavan, Ibis, 1868, p. 371 ; Holdsw. 



P. Z. S. 1872, p. 465 ; Ball, Str. Feath. 1874, p. 423 ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 25, et 1875, 



p. 399 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. p. 493 ; Armstrong, Str. Feath. 1876, p. 337 ; Oates, 



ibid. 1877, p. 163 ; Hume & Davison, ibid. 1878, B. of Tenass. p. 411 ; Ball, ibid. vii. 



p. 224. 

 The Parrot-Pigeon, Kelaart ; Orange-breasted Pigeon, Sportsmen in India ; Green Pigeon, 



Europeans in Ceylon. Chota hurrial, Hind., also Koklah; Chitta putsa Guwa, Telugu ; 



Patcha-prdd, lit. " Green Pigeon," Tamils in Ceylon ; Groene Dnyven, Dutch in Ceylon, 



Layard. 

 Batta-goya, lit. " Bamboo-Pigeon," Sinhalese. 



Adult male and female. Length 10-3 to 10-6 inches ; wing 5 - 5 to 5 - 8; tail 3'6 to 3 - S ; tarsus 0-75; middle toe and 



claw l'l ; bill to gape - 75 to OS. 

 Females average smaller than males. 

 Iris carmine outwardly and beautiful cobalt-blue inwardly, divided by a narrow dark ring ; eyelid glaucous green ; bill 



with the soft basal half glaucous green, and the terminal part pale blue ; legs and feet coral-red or pink -red ; 



claws bluish brown. 



Male. Forehead, face, and throat yellowish green, becoming greener on the fore neck and crown, and passing thence 

 into delicate grey-blue on the hind neck and upper part of the interscapulary region ; back, scapulars, wing-coverts, 

 and tertials brownish green, passing into greenish brown on the upper tail-coverts ; quills deep cinereous blue or 

 ashy black, the greater coverts and lowermost tertials with very deep sharply-defined primrose-yellow margins ; 

 primaries with narrow yellowish-white margins ; secondaries narrowly edged with the same ; tail bluish ashy, with 

 a median dark band, and the terminal portion lighter than the base and showing whitish beneath ; a narrow lilac 

 band across the upper part of chest, succeeded by a broader band of orange-sienna ; breast yellowish green, 

 passing into yellow on the abdomen and into bluish cinereous on the flanks ; centres of tibial plumes ashy green, and 

 the margins yellowish ; under tail-coverts cinnamon-red, the basal feathers with white outer edges ; under wing 

 concolorous with the flanks. 



In some examples the under tail-coverts are much edged and tipped with albescent. 



Female. Has the blue of the hind neck of less extent, but darker than the male ; the upper surface is more overcast 

 with brownish ; the chest wants the lilac and orange bands ; under tail-coverts whitish, the inner ivebs mostly 

 cinnamon, and the bases of the feathers dappled with ashy. 



Young. Immature birds have the outer circle of the iris reddish yellow. In first plumage they are all clothed in the 

 garb of the female ; and males, I believe, assume the light tints on the chest at the first moult, but the under 

 tail-coverts do not become so bright as in the adult. 



Obs. This species belongs to a small section of this beautiful genus, the members of which have an orange band on 

 the chest. The other Indian members of the group are O. vernans, Linn., O. phayrei, Blyth, and O. fulvicoMis, Wagl. 



The Ceylonese representatives of this species seem to constitute almost a diminutive race, measuring constantly less in 

 the wing than continental birds. They correspond, however, too well in plumage (as far as I can judge from 

 the small series with which I have compared them) with Indian birds to warrant my specifically separating them. 



