vi INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



way many other Natural History journals have references to Pigeons, 

 but they also are scattered and difficult to find. Finally, so many 

 of my friends and others have asked me to write a book on the Indian 

 Pigeons, that I think there must be some grounds for hoping that 

 a volume upon them will be kindly received. 



From a. scientific point of view it is probable that this book will 

 undergo considerable criticism, for it introduces for the first time 

 into India the trinominal system — that is to say, the system which 

 recognises subspecies. But India is essentially a country in which 

 we find such a system necessarj' : for the variations in climate are so 

 great, according to elevation, himiidity, etc., that the same species 

 in different localities are bound to undergo some degree of evolution 

 which shall render them suitable to their surroundings. On the 

 other hand, the variations so caused — ^though constant in definite areas 

 — are often indeterminate in the country which links these areas 

 together, and which is itself often intermediate in character. Then 

 again we find in India parallel evolution going on in districts very far 

 apart. For instance, the Uttle Bustard-Quail (Turnix taijoor) in the 

 dry area of Southern Burma nearly approaches the same form as that 

 found in the drier portions of Central India. So too, with our Pigeons : 

 we find our very first bird, the Bengal Green Pigeon, having well- 

 defined variations occurring both in Burma and in Southern India, 

 yet in the intervening countries many birds cannot be placed with 

 certainty under either form. 



It would appear, also, that Pigeons and Doves are birds very 

 susceptible to climatic variations, for we known that Beebe, one of 

 the leading American Ornithologists, has obtained different specific 

 phases of plumage in the same identical individual by merely trans- 

 ferring it from a very dry area to others more and yet more 

 humid. 



Geographical variations I therefore accept as sufficient reason 

 for the creation of subspecies as long as they are constant within a 

 given area, though intermediate areas may be inhabited by inter- 

 mediate forms. 



Broadly speaking, in giving geographical forms the status of sub- 

 species, I have acted upon the following lines : When I have found 

 differences in the plumage or in the size of birds, inhabiting different 

 areas, which are quite plain to anyone's observation, I accept them as 



