38 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



The wings of males I have measured vary from 5.44 in. ( = 138.2 mm.) 

 to 5.92 ( = 150.3 mm.) in length, the average of sixty birds being 5.61 in. 

 ( = 142.5 mm.). 



The females do not appear to be any smaller than the males, and the 

 biggest male in the British Museum series is no bigger than the largest female. 



Colours of soft parts of both sexes. "The soft basal part of the bill is 

 glaucus green, but the tips of both mandibles are ashy. The iris is blue with 

 an outer ring of pink or lake red." (Fairbank.) 



" Legs and feet lake pink ; claws bluish white " (Davison). 



Distribution. Blanford thus notes on the distribution of this Green 

 Pigeon : " Forests of the Malabar Coast from the neighbourhood of Bombay 

 to Cape Cormorin. Jerdon states that he also obtained this bird in Central 

 India and in the Eastern Ghats ; but neither the late Doctor V. Ball, nor I, 

 met with this species in the area specified ; the name does not occur in either 

 of the lists of Shevaroy birds (for which I am indebted to Mr. Daly and 

 Mr. Worth), and no one, as far as I know, has obtained this bird away from 

 the Malabar Coast since Jerdon's time." 



Davidson (I.e.) says that it is very common in Kanara, and extends as 

 far east as Birchia, but is rare beyond Sirsi, and that he had not noticed it 

 either in Musyodi or Halzae. Bourdillon reports it as common in suitable 

 localities in Travancore, but Davison did not find it abundant either in the 

 Wynaad or in Mysore. It also occurs in the Lacadives. 



Nidification. The Grey-fronted Green Pigeon breeds throughout 

 its range, principally in February and early March, but its eggs may be 

 taken at any time between the beginning of January and the end 

 of April. 



Barnes records that this " is much the commonest Green Pigeon in 

 Kanara . . . both above and below the Ghata. I have taken numbers of 

 the nests, which are generally slight structures placed from 8 to 15 ft. from 

 the ground, and mostly in small trees. The male is quite as commonly seen 

 incubating the eggs as the female." 



Mr. J. Darling's account agrees with Barnes, and he describes the nest 

 as " a slight ragged, shapeless thing composed of thin dry twigs laid together 

 in a very disreputable fashion, with a circular central depression lined with 

 a few grass stalks. The nests were 5 or 6 in. in diameter ; the depression 

 hardly more than \ in. in depth. The eggs measured 1.12 in. by 0.8." 



Normally, this Pigeon, Uke others of the genus, undoubtedly prefers 

 scrub-jungle and small trees or saplings as a site for its nest, but Mr. F. W. 

 Bourdillon found its nest in the A^samboo Hills built on the bough of a tree 

 at 40 ft. from the ground. 



In colour the eggs are, as usual, a pure white. The shape and texture 

 does not differ from that of other Green Pigeons' eggs. They vary in length 

 between 1.08 in. ( = 27.6 mm.) and 1.17 ( = 29.7 mm.), and average 1.12 

 by .86 ( = 28.4 by 21.8 mm.). In breadth they only vary between .84 in. 

 ( = 21.3 mm.) and .88 ( = 22.3 mm.). 



I have only seen a very small series of these eggs and a larger number 

 would probably show a greater difference between extremes of size. 



In habits there seems to be nothing peculiar to this species of 

 Green Pigeon calling for remark. It is, perhaps, more strictly a forest- 

 bird than is the case with some, but like the others of this genus 



