INDIAN BLUE ROCK-PIGEON 137 



When dealing with the European Rock-Pigeon I have already said that 

 I cannot difierentiate between Bonaparte's schimperi, Hume's neglecta, 

 Button's spelaea, and Graf Zedlitz's palestinae ; and again, that I cannot discrim- 

 inate between these forms and the paler form of our Indian Rock-Pigeon, inter- 

 media. At the same time there is a distinct difference between pale, light- 

 backed specimens from all the other regions mentioned and a typical dark grey 

 specimen from Ceylon, Madras, or Behar. Unfortunately there is no difference 

 which is constant or which is sufficiently constant for the trinomialist to be 

 able to say here at this end of the range of the species is a dark race and here 

 at the other end we always have a pale race with, as might be expected, an 

 intermediate form in the intermediate area. We can say this of the two 

 forms livia and intermedia, but we cannot lay down any such definite rules 

 for our Indian birds. Thus amongst the pale Himalayan and desert-form, 

 dark birds are quite common, and on the other hand, amongst the dark birds 

 of southern and eastern India, we get such specimens as Cripp's so-called 

 livia from Furredpore and other birds which are almost as pale as this particular 

 individual. 



Under the above circumstances I have preferred not to create any more 

 races than the two well-defined forms, livia and intermedia. 



When, however, we come to consider the Chinese birds, and when we can 

 get a big series from which to draw conclusions, it may be found desirable 

 to divide this race from intermedia. There are, unfortunately, only three 

 specimens in the British Museum Collection, but these all differ from typical 

 intermedia in their relatively dark heads and pale backs, in the breasts being 

 much darker and contrasting with the pale abdomens, and also in the metallic 

 coloured plumage of the hind-neck being extended well into the interscapulary 

 region, where it is sharply defined from the pale grey of the back. 



Nidification. The breeding-season of the Indian Rock-Pigeon might 

 almost be said to commence on the 1st of January and to end on the 31st of 

 December. In Behar, Inglis reports that he found them breeding in large 

 numbers in an old temple at Laheria Seria and adds that he took eggs in 

 every month of the year with the exception of February. In some districts 

 in Eastern Bengal, where they breed principally in the roofs of masonry houses 

 and also in the walls of deserted factories and other buildings, they certainly 

 breed throughout the year though, perhaps, fewer have eggs during the 

 height of the rains, say August and early September, than in the other 

 months. 



According to Hume, in upper India the breeding-season lasts from 

 Christmas to May Day, and Barnes considered the breeding-season in the 

 Bombay Presidency to last from November to May. In the Doab, Colonel 

 Marshall found them breediug in April, May and June, and in Ceylon Legge 

 gives May and June as the two principal breeding-months. 



Practically wherever found, the Indian Blue Rock-Pigeon is resident 

 and breeds, whether at the level of the plains or 10,000 ft. up in the hills, 

 as found by Fulton, Ward, Whitehead, and others. 



The natural site for this bird's nest is undoubtedly holes and caves in 

 steep cUffs, or in the sides of rocky ravines, but as the bird itself has gradually 

 spread across the Continent and has left places where such natural sites are 

 obtainable, it has adapted itself without difficulty to the requirements of 

 civilization, and now breeds regularly in masonry w^Us, old temples, ruined 

 buildings of all kinds, and even in occupied brick and stone buildings. 

 Marshall found them breediug in the kurezas, or underground water-channels, 

 pecuUar to the country round Quetta ; and another curious place I found 



