332 A Contribution to Malayan Ornithology. [No. 4, 



old males. In the specimen from the Wellesley Province, which is 

 apparently a female, the posterior neck and back are blackish brown, 

 with a very slight green metallic tinge on some of the feathers, bnt all 

 are minntely freckled with rufous brown, somewhat less conspicuous 

 on the middle back ; but the red is again much more prevalent on the 

 rump and upper tail coverts ; the whole head above is rufous brown, 

 chin whitish rufescent ; throat posteriorly and front of breast irre- 

 gularly spotted with black. The specimen agrees in other respects 

 with the Javanese bird. Amboinensis is often quoted by W a 1- 

 1 a c e from the various islands of the Philippine Archipelego, but 

 ruficeps does not appear to occur there. 



89. Turtur tigrinus, T e m m. (? ?). 



? T. Suratensis, G m e 1., J e r d o n, B. Ind. Ill, p. 79. 



Wing and tail 5 J" each ; bill at front \\" ; from gape \%" ; tarsus 

 very nearly \" ; a narrow black loreal stripe appears constant in male 

 specimens ; the white and posteriorly brownish tips of the collar are 

 squarish, not rounded. 



The Malayan form is very like the Indian T. Sitratensis, 

 G m., only a little smaller and having the back, like Chinensis, 

 Scop., almost unspotted, the feathers being only narrowly 

 tipped with pale brown, but all the wing coverts are blackish 

 along their shafts, except the most anterior which are ashy 

 white. I doubt that tigrinus is specifically distinct from Sura- 

 tensis. Bly t h, (Ibis, 1867, III, p. 150) says that he has not seen 

 intermediate specimens. I saw specimens from Burma which had 

 the two lateral spots on each of the feathers of the back distinct, while 

 others had them nearly quite obsolete, or only indicated by pale 

 terminal edgings, as in the Malayan tigrinus. Such minor differ- 

 ences should not be considered as specific distinctions, for they are 

 not definable in nature. 



This and other allied species of Col umb idee do not appear to be so 

 common in the Wellesley Province, nor at Penang and in the 

 neighbourhood of Malacca, as are species of the Tveron group. 



90. Geophelia striata, Linn. 



A single specimen was obtained in the Wellesley Province ; the 

 measurements are : — wing 3 |" : tail 4^" ; bill at front T \, from gape 



