(27) COLUMBA OENAS EVERSMANNI Bp. 



THE EASTERN STOCK-PIGEON. 

 (Plate 13.) 



Columba eversmanni Bp., Compt. Rend., XLIII p. 838 (1856) ; Scully, 

 J.A.S.B., LVI p. 86; Sharpe, Yarkand Miscel. Av., p. 116; Salvadori, 

 Cat. B.M., XXI p. 264 ; Blanf., Avi. Brit. I., IV p. 31 ; Sharpe, Hand- 

 List, p. 69 ; Inglis, J.B.N.H.S., XII p. 429 ; id. ib., XIV p. 561 ; Nicol 

 Cumming, ib., XVI p. 691 ; Ward, ib., XVII p. 943 ; Whitehead, ib., 

 XX p. 966. 

 Palumboena eversmanni Bp., Compt. Rend., XLIII pp. 838, 948 (1856) ; 

 Jerdon, B.I., III p. 467 ; Hume, Str. Feath., I p. 217 ; id., Lah. to 

 Yark., p. 271 ; Scully, Str. Feath., IV p. 175 ; Hume, ib., VIII p. 109 ; 

 id.. Cat. no. 787 ; Barnes, B. Bom., p. 288 ; Reid, Str. Feath., X p. 59. 

 Palumboena oenicapilla Blyth, J.A.S.B., XXVI p. 219. 

 Columba fusca Severtz, Str. Feath., Ill p. 431. 



Vernacular Names. Kamar-Kular, Hin. ; Ban Parawa, Bagar, Behari ; 

 Pahari Kdbutar, Hin. Lucknow ; KapotJi, Chah-i-kapoth, Baluchi ; Kaftar, 

 Persian. 



Description. — Adult mule. Upper part of the head and neck ashy- 

 grey, tinged with vinous or lilac ; cheeks, ear-coverts, lores, chia, and 

 throat dove-grey, the three first sometimes tinted with the same colour ; 

 hind-neck and interscapulars ashy-grey, glossed with green and a little lilac- 

 red ; sides of neck the same but with a very well marked red patch of glossy 

 purple-red, visible as a distinct patch in the living bird or in well-made skins ; 

 t)ack and scapulars greyish-ashy ; lower-back pure white, rump and upper 

 tail-coverts slaty -grey, the feathers margined with dark brown ; tail brownish- 

 black at the tip, slate-grey at the base with a dark band, fairly well marked 

 except on the central rectrices, about one and a half inches from the tip ; 

 outer webs of outermost rectrices white below the black tip. Wing-coverts 

 dove-grey, all except the primary-coverts margined with ashy-grey like the 

 back ; bases of outer row of median and greater secondary-coverts black 

 and showing as two bars across the wing ; primaries and outer secondaries 

 ash-grey, the base of the inner web of the first primary white ; inner secondaries 

 like the back, but with a broad bar of black. 



Breast dark dove-grey, strongly tinged with lilac or vinous -pink, abdomen 

 and under tail-coverts dove-grey, darkest on the latter ; under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries white, edge of the wing grey, and under aspect of quills very 

 pale grey-brown. 



Colours of soft parts. Irides light yellow, golden-yellow, yellowish-brown, 

 or light brown; bill pale greenish, slaty at the base and amber-green at the tip; 

 legs and feet pale fleshy -pink, purplish, or yellowish-fleshy, nails horny-brown. 

 "Skin round the eye yellow ; irides buff " (Jerdon). 

 Measurements 11 to 12 in. (about 280 to 305 mm.) ; wing, greatest 

 length 8.25 in. ( = 209.5 mm.), least 7.5 in. ( = 190.5 mm.), and average of 

 twenty-five birds 7.78 in. ( = 197.6 mm.) ; bill at front, .68 in. to 73 in. 

 ( = 15.4 to 18.5 mm.) and from gape about .95 in. ( = 24.1 mm.) ; tarsus, 

 about .95 in. ( = 24.1 mm.). 



With the exception of one bird from Turkestan with a wing of 



