NILGIRI WOOD-PIGEON les 



fleshy part of bUl eyeli(^ legs and feet pink; irides pale yellowish-red to 

 red-brown " (Davison). Eyelids, legs and feet lake-red » (Davison) 



I » At- ^"''^'^u^* ^^^®' y«"o*isli %. legs and feet pinkish with white 

 marks (Miss Cockburn). 



• *_ 0^,= • .^°*^y?''g**' 1^ *n- *o 17 in. ( =381 to 431.8 mm.); 

 r'^^ET.^-?!'?- *"* ^-^^ ™- ( = 204-4 to 223.5 mm.); tail 6 in. to 7 in 

 ^r i^^it""-^^^-^ "^"^A' ^^^ ** ^°^* -6^ ^- ( = 16.4 mm.), and from gape 

 about 1.15 m. ( = 29.1 mm.); tarsus about 1 in. ( = 25 4 mm) The 

 average length of wings is about 8.40 in. ( = 212.3 mm ) 

 "Weight 10 to 12 oz." (Davison). 



Davison gives the wing-measurements as 8.3 to 9 in., and the tarsus 

 as 1.08 to 1.15 m. These measurements are, of course, taken from fresh 

 skins or livmg birds. 



Adult female. This has hitherto been described as similar to the male, 

 but it would seem as if it never became quite so brick-red on the wings 

 and lower-back as old males do, and the amount of metallic gloss is also 

 perhaps, rather less. 



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



Measurements. Females are decidedly smaller than males, the length 

 of wing in the series in the British Museum Collection varying in length between 

 7.7 in. ( = 195.5 mm.) and 8.20 in. ( = 208.2 mm.), with an average of 7.85 in. 

 ( = 199.9 mm.) exactly. Tail 5.75 in. ( = 146 mm.) to 6.5 in. ( = 155.1 mm.) 

 and other measurements in proportion. 



With the exception of one bird from the Nilgherries, sexed by Miss 

 Cockburn, there is no other female over 8.05 in. ( = 204.4 mm.), and this is 

 therefore quite an abnormally big bird. 



Young male. Like the adult, but browner and less red above and with 

 the metallic colours undeveloped. The patch at the back of the neck is also 

 less black than in the old bird. The wing-coverts, scapulars and innermost 

 secondaries have dull narrow fringes of rufous, quite different in colour to the 

 red of the adult bird. 



Distribution. Confined to the Hill tracts of western southern India, 

 from Kanara south to Cape Cormorin, the Nilgherries, Palni Hills, Brahma- 

 gerries, and Wynaad. Colonel Sykes found it, though rare there, in the 

 Deccan Ghats. Captain Blaxland also informed Ball that he had met with 

 this Pigeon on the Mahanadi and Godavery Rivers, but his identification 

 has never been confirmed. 



Nidification. Hume, in Nests and Eggs, says that the Nilgiri 

 Wood-Pigeon breeds in many of the better wooded localities of the Blue 

 Mountains (the Nilgherries) at elevations of 5,000 ft. and upwards, and both 

 Miss Cockburn and Davison took nests at and above this height, and they 

 have been taken in the same hills by Messrs. Cardew, Ehodes, W. Morgan, 

 Howard Campbell, and others. In the Palni Hills their nests have been found 

 by the last mentioned gentleman, Macgregor and Captain Horace Terry, and 

 I have received an egg from the Shevaroys. Mr. J. Stewart informs me that 

 he has found them breeding in the higher ranges of hills in Travancore, and 

 that he has taken an egg there. 



Miss Cockburn describes the nest as resembling "that of all Pigeons 

 and Doves in the careless manner in which a few sticks are put together. On 

 high trees in dense woods this bird prepares the abode for her young, and 

 chooses a projecting bough, as if she had some thought for the safety of the 



