RUFOUS TURTLE-DOVE 197 



Distribution. Sikhim, Tibet, Nepal, and thence into China and north 

 to Manchuria, Corea, and Japan. 



There is a very typical specimen from Darjiling in the British Museum 

 Collection, but most birds from this district, at least all those from low 

 elevations, are typical meena ; the Nepal birds are without exception true 

 orientalis, as are those from Sikhim and Tibet. 



Owing to Streptopelia turtur ferrago, the Indian Turtle Dove, migrating 

 over so large an area throughout India during the cold-weather months, and 

 to the present bird also in some cases meeting the last bird, Sykes's Turtle- 

 Dove, and intergrading with it — ^it is not alwajrs easy to decide into which 

 of the three subspecies some specimens may belong. Thus Davidson says : 

 "Now in Western Khandesh I have shot right and left specimens, one of 

 which had white under tail-coverts and the other grey, and I have seen others 

 that I could hardly say whether the coverts were pure white or greyish-white. 

 ... I would add to this that I have shot moulting birds, with the new 

 under tail-coverts white and the old ones grey." This, however, does not, 

 as Hume points out in Stray Feathers, mean that they are one and the same 

 form, and though one may, as Davidson did, shoot the two forms out of the 

 same tree, it merely shows that the migratory form has visited the district 

 in which the other form is resident. 



Nidification. The Nepalese Rufous Turtle-Dove breeds throughout 

 the area it inhabits, but it moves higher up or lower down the mountains 

 according to the season of the year. 



I can find absolutely nothing on record about the breeding of this Dove 

 either in China or India, although its eggs are not very rare in collections. 



I have its eggs from Nepal, Tibet, and native Sikhim, but never having 

 taken its eggs myself can only put on record the notes of my collectors, both 

 European and Indian. According to these it builds a nest Just like that of 

 its European cousin — a flimsy flat construction of twigs, very carelessly and 

 very untidily put together and measuring anything between 6 and 8 in. in 

 diameter. 



The site selected seems to be in some high thick bush, small sapling, 

 or a tangle of briers, and I have had no account of any nest taken at more 

 than some ten or twelve feet from the ground. In Sikhim and Tibet the 

 nests were taken in very open country, sometimes in quite isolated bushes 

 and trees, but in Nepal my informants tell me that they took the nest 

 generally in well-wooded ravines and sometimes in the inside of quite 

 extensive forests. All the nests, as far as I am aware, were taken at over 

 8,000 ft. elevation, and some up to 12,000 ft. 



The few eggs I have vary in length between 1.16 in. ( = 29.4 mm.) and 

 1.36 in. ( = 34.5 mm.), and in breadth between .90 in. ( = 22.8 mm.) and 

 1.10 in. ( = 27.9 mm.), whilst they average 1.28 in. ( = 32.5 mm.) by 1.03 in. 

 ( = 26.1 mm.) 



In shape they are the usual ovals, practically equal in form and size 

 at the ends, but I think on an average they are rather longer in proportion 

 than are most Doves' eggs. The texture and surface are as usual. 



My eggs from Tibet were all taken in July, and those from Sikhim 

 and Nepal in the end of May and June. 



Scully says that : " This Dove is fairly common in one part or 

 another of the Nepal Valley throughout the yeax. In May, June, and 

 July it is only found in the forests, at elevations of from 7,000 to 8,000 ft. 



