122 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



greyish-white ; rump grey next the lower-back deepening in colour to the 

 upper tail-coverts which are dark grey edged deep brown ; tail brown, the 

 outermost two or three pairs grey with a broad black band. Under aspect 

 of wing bright brick or copper red ; under tail-coverts dark slaty-g^ey. 



Occasionally a very old male has a few spots of metalUc bronze, like the 

 eyes on a peafowl's plumage, on the lower-breast and abdomen. 



Colours of soft parts. Bill red, the cere deeper and somewhat 

 sanguine, the tip paler and more a coral-red ; iris hazel or dark brown ; the 

 eyelids leaden-grey; legs coral-red, the soles paler and the claws pale homy- 

 brown. 



Measurements. Total length 10 to U in. ( = 254 to 279 mm.) ; wing 

 5.5 to 5.95 in. ( = 149.7 to 151.0 mm.), tail about 3.75 in. ( = 95.2 mm.), 

 tarsus rather less than 1 in. ( = 25.4 mm.), bill at front .6 in. ( = 15.2 mm.) 

 and from gape .9 in. ( = 22.8 mm.). 



Adult female. Differs from the male in having the white fore-head and 

 supercilia much less in extent and sometimes hardly visible ; the slate-grey 

 of the crown and nape is replaced with the vinous-red of the neck, which is, 

 as a rule, less bright in tint than it is in the male. The white wing-patch 

 is not present, and the bars of white or grey eicross the lower-back are generally 

 less pronounced. The tail has the central two pairs dark reddish-brown, 

 the succeeding pairs more red still but tipped darker, and the outermost 

 pair as in the male. 



Colours of soft parts. The same as in the male. 



Measurements. On the whole the female appears to differ little, if at all, 

 from the male in size and the biggest and smallest specimens in the British 

 Museum Collection are both females. 



Young male. Like the female but still duller and with the bronze-green 

 much less in extent and freely barred with copper-red. There is a 

 broad rufous bar across the wing, often plainly visible when the bird is a year 

 or more old ; the feathers of the winglet and the inner secondaries are 

 boldly tipped with rufous-red and the whole under-surface is barred dull 

 brown and rufous. 



Over its very wide range this little bird is remarkably constant in 

 coloration, although individuals vary considerably inter se. Attempts have 

 frequently been made to subdivide this species on the following grounds : — 



1. Difference in the extent of the white fore-head and supercilia. 



2. Extent and purity of the white bars on the rump and lower-back. 



3. Depth of the vinous-red colouring of back, neck, and breast. 



4. Presence or absence of grey line running down from the nape to the 



interscapulars. 



All these points are entirely individual, and may all be seen in their extremes 

 in a series from Sikhim in the British Museum. Thus a few birds have the 

 fore-head white almost as far back as the centre of the eye, whilst others 

 have the white confined to the edge of the bUl. The nuchal line in some 

 birds forms a broad streak dividing the red of the neck in two ; in some it 

 is weak and broken, and in one or two not perceptible. The bars on the 

 rump vary to the same extent, and the depth of the red colouring is equally 

 an individual and not a subspecific character. 



Distribution. The Emerald Dove is found throughout the greater 

 part of India in forest-country where there is a sufficient rainfall. It extends 



