Adult Male (Egypt, 31st March). Head and upper part of the neck and hind neck purplish pink; back 

 and scapulars warm brown, becoming clear warm clay-rufous on the inner wing-coverts ; sides of the 

 rump blue, the centre and the upper tail-coverts dull brown; quills blackish brown, externally 

 narrowly margined with dull white ; wing-coverts (except as above stated) dove-blue ; central rectrices 

 brown, the remaining tail-feathers slate-blue at the base, then black, the terminal half being white in 

 the outer feathers, and dull slaty grey on the inner ones ; feathers on the sides and front of the neck 

 black, with broad yellowish coppery tips to the feathers forming a collar ; chest pinky vinous, gradually 

 fading into white towards the vent ; eyelids lilac-red ; bill dusky, with a reddish shade towards the base ; 

 feet red; iris orange-red. Total length about 11"5 inches, culmen - 75, wing 5 - 8, tail 4 - 7, tarsus - 85. 



Adult Female. Resembles the male, but is somewhat paler in general tinge of colour. 



Young (fide Von Heuglin) . Head, neck, and breast dull cinnamon-brown, intermixed with vinous, the 

 collar wanting; wing and upper tail-coverts and some of the inner secondaries washed with brown; 

 abdomen pale and dull in colour, and clouded with reddish brown. 



Obs. The present species varies very considerably in size; but I cannot discover, after a most careful exami- 

 nation of a considerable series, that the difference is any thing but individual ; for I find that the extreme 

 variation exists in specimens from the same locality : thus the variation in the length of the wing in 

 examples from North Africa is from 5"2 to 5 - 85; and I find nearly as much difference in specimens 

 from other parts of Africa and India. 



The range of the present species, as far as the Western Paleearctic Region is concerned, is 

 restricted to the extreme southern and south-eastern portions ; but it is found in Asia, eastward 

 as far as Central India, and in Africa as far south as the Cape colony. In Europe, north of the 

 Mediterranean, it is only known to have occurred in Greece and Turkey; and the statement 

 made by Messrs. Degland and Gerbe that it straggles to Spain and Portugal lacks confirmation. 

 Count von der Miihle (Orn. Griechenl. p. 83) gives an accurate description of it, and says that 

 he has several times shot it in Greece in the summer ; and Dr. Kriiper says that it is only a 

 rare bird in that country ; Messrs. Sclater and Taylor observed it at Stamboul ; and Strickland 

 speaks of it as being numerous amongst the cypress trees in the Mahometan churchyards near 

 Constantinople and Smyrna; and Dr. Kriiper states that in Asia Minor he found it very 

 common, and breeding at Smyrna and Axari. Canon Tristram writes (Ibis, 1868, p. 210) that 

 it " is a permanent resident in Palestine, not increasing its number by migration, confined 

 chiefly to the neighbourhood of the Dead Sea and the Lower Jordan, but residing throughout 

 the year even in the courtyards of houses in Jerusalem and in the temple-area, where, from its 

 tame and confiding habits, it appears to be semidomesticated." In North-east Africa it is a 

 common species ; and Captain Shelley, who says that it is very abundant in Egypt, adds that it 

 is the only species which remains there throughout the year. Von Heuglin states that he did 

 not observe it in the highlands of Abyssinia above 7000-8000 feet, and that on the White Nile 

 it is rarer than in Nubia, Egypt, Arabia, and on the Abyssinian coast ; and Mr. Blanford says 

 that it is most abundant in Abyssinia in the subtropical belt, from 3000 to 6000 feet, but occurs 

 both above and below these limits. It is found throughout the north of Africa, being resident 

 and common in Algeria; and Mr. Salvin says (Ibis, 1859, p. 318) that he observed it in many 

 places in the Eegency of Tunis. According to Mr. C. F. Tyrwhitt-Drake it is common in the 



