ANDAMANESE WOOD-PIGEON 181 



Adult fermle. " In the female the head and neck is slightly arever 

 than in the male " (Blanford). i^^ 



I cannot see that this difference is constant, and there is one female in 

 the British Museum Collection with a head as pure a grey -white as it is in any 

 of the males. The difference noted by Blanford is probably only due to 

 immaturity. 



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



Measurements. Prom the small series available for comparison it would 

 appear that the female is slightly smaller than the male. Excluding 

 an abnormally small, poor-conditioned female with a wing of only 8.5 in. 

 ( = 215.9 mm.) the remaining four females in the Museum Collection vary 

 in wing-measurements between 9.5 in. ( = 241.3 mm.) and 9.95 in. 

 ( = 252.7 mm.), with an average of 9.70 in. ( = 246.3 mm.). Measurements 

 of bill and tarsus are also slightly smaller on an average than the male. 



" Weight I lb. 2 oz." (Hume). 



Young in first year. Have the head a much darker grey than in the 

 adult and with no green sheen, the wider parts are a duller, browner 

 grey, also without sheen, and the back and wing-coverts are browner and 

 less glossy. 



Distribution. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 



Nidification. Nothing has as yet been discovered as regards the breeding 

 of this fine Pigeon. 



The Andaman Wood-Pigeon is a bird concerning which practically 

 nothing has been recorded since its discovery, in 1873, by Hume and 

 Davison. 



It appears to be closely similar to the Fruit-Pigeons in its habits, 

 and Hume, writing about a bird which he then had aUve in Calcutta, 

 says : "In its mode of holding itself and its broad substantial body it 

 is a typical Carpophaga and not at all like the more slender and pigeon-like 

 Meiallica." Butler, however, does not agree with this, for he writes (l.c.) : 

 " I only shot it once on Car Nicobar, and unfortunately the bird went 

 bad before I could preserve it. It seemed to me more of a Wood-Pigeon 

 than a Fruit-Pigeon ; my bird rose either from the ground or from a 

 low branch within a foot or two from it — far lower than I have 

 seen a Carpophaga settle." This setthng on low branches would, how- 

 ever, appear to be exceptional, for Hume thus describes one of their 

 favourite resting-places : " About midway in the Straits is a conical 

 rocky islet, perhaps half an acre in extent, rising to an elevation of 

 70 or 80 ft., and crowned by trees of an equal or greater height ; these 

 trees seemed to be a favourite half-way house of the Fruit-Pigeons. 

 During the half-hour that we hung about and remained on the island 

 we must have seen a couple of hundred. They were always perched 

 on the tops of the highest trees ; we could see them perfectly well from 



