THE PIED IMPERIAL PIGEON. 
303 
662. CAEPOPHAGA BICOLOR. 
THE PIED IMPERIAL PIGEON. 
Columba bicolor, Scop. Del. Flor. et Faun. Insub. ii. p. 94. Carpophaga bicolor, 
Ball, S. F. i. p. 79 : Hume, Nests and Eggs, p. 496 ; id. S. F. ii. p. 264 ; Salvad. 
Ucc. Born. p. 292 ; Bl. B. Burm. p. 145 ; JIume Sf Dew. S. F. vi. p. 418 ; 
Hiwie, S. F. viii. p. 109 ; Kelhatn, Ibis, 1881, p. 527. Myristicivora bicolor, 
Wald. Trans. Zool. Soc. ix. p. 217. 
Description. — Male and female. Winglet^ primaries and secondaries 
black ; terminal portion of the tail blacky the black occupying about half 
the feather on the centrals^, decreasing in extent towards the outer feathers^ 
and on the outermost pair occupying merely a small portion of the tip and 
the outer web; remainder of the plumage white with a creamy or yellow 
tinge. 
Legs and feet pale smalt-blue ; bill leaden blue^ the tip darkish horny 
or dark plumbeous ; irides dark brown. {Davison.) 
Length 16 inches, tail 5, wing 9; tarsus V2, bill from gape 1'3. The 
female is of the same size. 
The Pied Imperial Pigeon is said by Mr. Blyth to occur in the Mergui 
archipelago. Mr. Davison did not, however, observe it in any of the 
islands. 
This species occurs in the Andamans and Nicobars, and has a very 
extensive range, being found in the Malay peninsula and all the islands 
of the archipelago to New Guinea. 
It has the same habits as the other Imperial Pigeons, but appears to be 
a sea-coast-loving species. It breeds in mangrove trees, and, so far as is 
known, lays only one egg. 
C. insulariSj from the Nicobar Islands, may occur in the Mergui archi- 
pelago. It is larger than C. cenea ; the upper plumage is darker and bluer ; 
and the under tail-coverts are dingy brown, tinged with chestnut in places, 
but not uniformly deep chestnut or maroon as in C. cenea. C. palumboides, 
from the Andamans, has the wings and tail blackish and the rest of the 
plumage dusky slaty-blue. 
