868 Drafts for a Fauna Indica. [No. 168. 



is darker and acutely pointed, being there uniformly edged with the 

 pale ashy margin. Bare orbital space livid : bill, purplish -black : " irides 

 hoary, or grey-white : legs and feet black-green to the front, yellowish 

 elsewhere ; claws clear lively yellow/' Length, about fifteen inches, by 

 twenty- five or twenty- six inches in alar expanse ; wing nine inches to 

 nine and a quarter. " Female," according to Mr. Hodgson, " rather less, 

 and differing in having the bluish-grey of the head less pale and clear, 

 and in wanting almost entirely the purplish tinge which adds so much 

 beauty to certain parts of the plumage of the male, as especially the up- 

 per part of his back, and the lower part of his belly." 



"This elegant species," continues Mr. Hodgson, "is found in the 

 woods of the valley of Nepal. It is very shy, seldom or never entering 

 the cultivated fields for the purpose of feeding, but keeping almost 

 always to the woods, and living upon their produce, in the shape of 

 grass, seeds, or berries." It would seem to be not uncommon near 

 Darjeeling : and Captain Wroughton informs me, that it is also tolerably 

 numerous about Simla and Mussooree, where it frequents the pine 

 forests on the higher mountains, as Whartoo and the vicinity of Kotghur. 

 They are generally seen in flocks of six or seven, which are particularly 

 shy and difficult of approach. 



C. Hodgsonii is nearly allied to C. arquatrix of Southern Africa ; but 

 is at once distinguished from that bird by its blackish bill, by the grey 

 upon its head and neck, and by the reduced development of the nude 

 space surrounding the orbits. Another allied African species, is the 

 C. guinea, Lin. (v. trigonigera of Wagler). 



The DOVES — 



Are generally smaller and more delicately formed, with the tail com- 

 monly more or less lengthened and graduated, this latter character at- 

 taining a high degree of development in certain groups of them. The 

 nearest approach to the wood pigeons is exhibited by the North Ame- 

 rican passenger doves (Ectopistes, Sw.), which are especially charac- 

 terized by having a long, much graduated, and sharp-pointed tail, and 

 powerful wings, of which the first two primaries are equal and longest ; 

 they have the true pigeon-like play of colours on the sides of the neck. 

 The African JEna capensis has been generally placed near Ectopistes, but 

 (so far as can be judged from drawings,) would appear rather to approx- 



