OSHOTREKON POHPADOKA*. 



(THE POMPADOUR GREEN PIGEON.) 



Colombo, pompadora, Gm. ed. Syst. Nat. i. p. 775. no. 9, " Zeylonise " (1788) ; Walden, Trans. 



Zool. Soc. 1875, ix. p. 212. 

 Treron malabarica (Jerd.), Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 229 (1849, in part) ; Kelaart, Pro- 



dromus, Cat. p. 130 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 58. 

 Treron Jlavogularis, Blyth, J. A. S. B. 1857, xxvi. p. 225 ; Wall. Ibis, 18G5, p. 375 (in part). 

 Treron pompadora (Gmel.), Wall. t.c. p. 375 (in part); Schlegel, Mus. P.-B. 1873, p. 52. 

 Osmotreron flavogularis (Bl.), Jerdon, B. of Ind. iii. p. 452 (1864) ; Legge, Ibis, 1874, p. 25. 

 Osmotreron pompadoura (Gmel.), Jerdon, t. c. p. 452 (in part); Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, 



p. 465; Hume, Str. Feath. 1879 (List of Ind. B.), p. 109. 

 Pompadour Pigeon, Brown, Illustr. pi. 19 (male), pi. 20 (female); Green Pigeon, 



Europeans ; The Maroon-backed Pigeon. Patcha-prdd, also Alam-prdd (Trincomalie 



district), Ceylonese Tamils. 

 Batta-goya, Sinhalese. 



A, 1 ,1 It male and female. Length 10-3 to 10 - 6 inches ; wing 5'5 to 5*7 ; tail 3 - 5 to 3 - S ; tarsus 0-3; middle toe and 



claw 1-0 to 1-1 ; bill to gape 0-9 to 0-95. 

 Iris carmine-red, with a cobalt inner circle ; eyelid glaucous green ; bill glaucous green, paling to bluish on the apical 



portion ; legs and feet purple-red. 



Male. Forehead, face, and loral region greenish yellow, blending into the purer yellow of the throat and the ashy 

 blue of the crown and nape, which latter blends into the ashy green of the hind neck and its sides ; interscapular 

 region, scapulars, and all but the two greater rows of coverts maroon ; lower back, rump, and central tail-feathers 

 dull green ; remaining rectrices green at the base (except on the two outer ones), passing into black across the 

 centre, and with deep bluish-ashy tips, showing whitish beneath ; quills ashy black, the outer and greater coverts, 

 secondaries, and tertials sharply edged with rich primrose-yellow, very broadly on the tertials and inner 

 coverts, and decreasing towards the anterior portion of the wing ; beneath yellowish green, blending into bluish 

 ashy on the flanks and flavescent on the abdomen ; tibial plumes dark greenish ashy, broadly edged with yellowish 

 white ; under tail-coverts white, with a faint rufescent yellowish tinge, and with the bases of the feathers 

 speckled with ashy ; under wing-coverts bluish ashy. 



Female. Forehead and face not so yellow, but the throat the same as in the male ; upper surface brownish green, 

 without the maroon mantle ; the yellow wing-edgings not so bright, and the under tail-coverts with more ash- 

 colour at the base. 



Young. Iris with the outer portion yellow, or reddish yellow, instead of carmine. 



Males of the year are clothed in the dress of the female, and put on the maroon mantle by an alteration in the 

 colour of the feather, acquiring the bluish cap or crown at the same time. 



Obs. Gmelin's species, which was afterwards named O. Jlavogularis by Blyth, is noted by Mr. Hume as occurring in 

 South India ; but Lord Walden, in his list of the species of Osmotreron, in the ' Transactions of the Zoological 

 Society,' 1875, enters it as found in Ceylon only. The published data as to its occurrence in South India are so 

 scanty that I am myself unable to form an opinion as to whether it is or is not peculiar to Ceylon. Jerdon, 



* I have retained the original spelling of Gmelin ; the name, of course, has reference to "Ponipadour;" but it seems 

 to me very unadvisable to alter the original orthography of a specific name, except when an error of gender has been 

 committed. 



