1843.] Mr. BlytKs Report for December Meeting, 1842. 937 



base, with a broad subterminal dusky band, and greyish tips succes- 

 sively paler to the outermost : bill dusky-black (in the dry specimen), 

 and feet have evidently been coral-red. Female rather smaller, and 

 similar to the male on its upper-parts, except that the barring on the 

 tail is more developed, and the forehead and crown are also cross- 

 ed with narrow rufescent lines, together with the entire under-parts. 

 Length about fourteen inches, of which the tail measures seven inches 

 and a quarter, and wings also seven inches and a quarter. Concealing 

 the head and neck, this species might almost be mistaken for a Cucu- 

 lus ; more especially the female. From Darjeeling, where extremely 

 common.* 



[While the preceding notices were passing through the press, another 

 interesting collection of Darjeeling specimens has been submitted to 

 my inspection, and I have been kindly permitted to make a selection 

 from them. The following appear to be undescribed ; — 



* Since the above was written, the Society has received a description of this Dove 

 from Mr. Hodgson (dated May 1, 1843), who applies to it the generic or subgeneric 

 term Coccyzurus, remarking further on its Cuculiiie appearance ; but he mentions 

 having " discovered it some years ago, and written a character of it on the back of 

 the drawing (No. 663), that went to England long ago to be locked up there!" His 

 description now sent is as follows : — 



" Vinagirue. [To this location of it I demur altogether. — E. B.] Genus Coccyzura 

 (olim Tusalia), Hodgson. Bill long and slender, as in Columba: wings short j the 

 third quill longest. Tail as in the Coccyzince, or very long, broad, and graduated 

 throughout, with broad ends to the feathers. Legs and feet suited for perching 

 only, and slender : tarse equal to the thumb : toes long and slender, flat-soled, the 

 inner and hind bordered, and unequal all : nails large, simple. Rump spinous. 



"Type. C. tusalia, Hodgson, Head and neck as in the common wild Pigeon, 

 with golden- green gloss on latter. Above, brown-black, cross-barred with chestnut 

 (in young?); below, rufescent-luteous with frequent dusky cross-bars, Alars 

 blackish. Central caudals like back ; laterals plumbeous with broad dark bar as in 

 the wild Pigeon. Legs, orbits, lores, and cere, red : bill black. Length sixteen 

 inches and a half : bill to gape one inch ; tail eight inches and a half; wing seven 

 inches and a half: tarse to sole fifteen -sixteenths of an inch: central toe and 

 nail one inch and seven- sixteenths ; hind fifteen-sixteenths of an inch. Solitary, and 

 a deep forester : not found in the plains. 



" Remark. — This form, like Swainson's Ptilinopus and our Dendrotreron [Col. Hodg- 

 sonii, Vigors, P. Z. S. 1832, p. 16], serves to connect the Columbine or Insessorial or 

 typical Pigeons with the Vinagincz (or dentirostral 1) or tree Pigeons. It has much 

 the aspect of a Cuckoo, and the tail exactly of the Coccyzince, the bill of Columba 

 proper, and the feet nearly of Ptilinopus. It represents Geopelia of the Ptylophyrina 

 or rasorial Pigeons (ground Columbines), and is closely allied to, if not a subgenus of, 

 Macropygia*" 



