49 



TITRTUK ISABELLINUS. 



(ISABELLINE TURTLE DOVE.) 



Turtur isabellinus, Bp. Compt. Eend. xliii. p. 942 (1856). 

 Turtur sharpii, Shelley, Ibis, 1870, p. 447. 



Turtur turtur oides, Pr. Wiirtt. Icon, inecl. t. 67, fide Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. Add. p. clxx 

 (1871). 



Figurce notabiles. 



Bp. Icon. Pig. pi. 102; Shelley, B. of Egypt, pi. x. fig. 2. 



Ad. Turturi vulgari similis, sed minor : pileo, capitis lateribus et corpore supra rufescenti-fulvidis, pileo et nucha, 

 pallidioribus et ochraceo tinctis : tectricibus alarum conspicue ferrugineo-fulvido marginatis : uropygio 

 et supracaudalibus fuscis, falvido marginatis : cauda sicut in Turture vulgari picturata, sed supra saturate 

 fusca, nee scbistaceo tincta : mento et gula fusco-ochraceis, gutture et pectore saturate aeneo-rosaceis, 

 abdomine imo et subcaudalibus albis : rostro, iride et pedibus sicut in T. vulgari coloratis. 



Adult Male (Egypt, April) . Differs from Turtur vulgaris in being smaller, in having the crown, sides of the 

 head, hind neck, and upper parts generally tawny reddish brown, on the head paler and ochreous in 

 in tinge ; wing-coverts broadly margined with warm rufescent ochreous brown ; rump and upper tail- 

 coverts dark brown, broadly margined with tawny brown; tail as in Turtur vulgaris, but the upper 

 surface is dark brown, without any tinge of slate; chin and upper throat pale brownish ochreous, 

 gradually fading into deep coppery pink, which again fades into white on the lower abdomen and under 

 tail-coverts ; soft parts as in Turtur vulgaris. Total length about 11 inches, culmen - 7, wing 60, 

 tail 4 - 3, tarsus 08. 



This, a desert form of the common Turtle Dove (from which, however, it is clearly specifically 

 distinct), is only, so far as is yet known, found in North-east Africa, where it is found from near 

 Cairo southward throughout Egypt and Nubia. 



Not only earlier explorers in North-east Africa, but many of those who have recently worked 

 at the ornithology of that portion of the globe have confused the present species with Turtur 

 vulgaris; and there is consequently but little reliable information on record respecting it. 

 Bonaparte, who first recognized its distinctness from Turtur vulgaris, named it (I. c.) from a 

 specimen in the Berlin Museum received from Egypt, and gives its habitat as " ex insulis 

 iEgypti superioris," without any further details. Captain Shelley, who obtained it in Egypt 

 on his journey there for collecting, failed to identify it with Bonaparte's Turtur isabellinus, 

 and renamed it (I. c.) Turtur sharpii; but he has since convinced himself that his name will not 

 stand. He says (B. of Egypt, p. 215) : — " It arrives in the beginning of February, and by the 

 end of the month becomes plentiful throughout Egypt and Nubia, and may be found breeding 

 in great numbers towards the latter end of March, some three weeks before Turtur auritus 



arrives in the country This Dove I regard as a desert form of Turtur auritus, and in some 



respects as intermediate between that bird and Turtur senegalensis. It appears never to breed 



