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



separate it from T. risorius ; again, " the orbits are naked and rich red," 

 which applies to neither of them : his T. erythrophrys has the wing seven 

 inches, and his T. semitorquatus only five inches and a half ; both the 

 Indian and South African species being in this respect intermediate. T. 

 semitorquatus has, further, " the belly, vent, thighs, and under tail-coverts, 

 cinereous-white," which agrees sufficiently with some specimens, appa- 

 rently females, of T. vinaceus, the (presumed^ males having at least the 

 abdomen scarcely paler than the breast; but " above all, the inner toe is 

 one- twentieth of an inch longer than the outer," whilst " in erythrophrys, 

 this proportion is almost reversed, or at least the inner toe is not even 

 equal to the outer." In both the Indian and South African birds, the 

 inner toe is shorter than the outer. 



Besides the common cream-coloured domestic race, a small albino 

 variety is frequently bred in cages, in different parts of India, with wing 

 measuring five and a half to six inches ; but its form of tail and other 

 proportions are as in T. risorius and T, vinaceus. This bird is often 

 interbred with the cream-coloured race, producing offspring of intermedi- 

 ate size, and shade of colouring.* The coo of T. risorius somewhat resem- 

 bles the sound cuckoo, pronounced slowly, and with a pause between the 

 syllables, the second being much prolonged and at first rolled. It may 

 not unfrequently be heard in moonlight nights. 



T. humilis : Col. humilis, Temminck : Asiatic Pigeon, Latham. 

 (Serotee Fachtah, Hind.; Golabee — or rose-coloured — G'hoogoo, Tdmd- 

 hhiiree — or copper-cup, — and I'tkuiyd — or brick- coloured — dove, Beng. ; 

 Goodko — G'hoogoo ? i. e. dove, — Scinde ; Gyo-leng-bya, Arracan.) (Red 

 Turtle-dove.) Much smaller and of a less elongated form than the 

 last ; and general colour fine vinous-red, weaker below ; the head 

 ash-grey, paler towards the forehead, and whitish on the chin ; a 

 black half- collar on the nape ; the rump and upper tail- coverts dusky- 

 ash ; vent and lower tail-coverts white, the former tinged with ashy ; 

 middle tail-feathers ash-brown ; the rest successively more broadly 

 tipped with white, which spreads up the whole exterior web of the 

 outermost feather, and their basal two-thirds (more or less) blackish ; 

 margin of the wing grey for the anterior half; the primaries and 



* The "Jungle Pigeon" of Latham would seem to be merely a domestic variety 

 of this kind. 



