304 BIRDS OF BRITISH BURMAH. 
Subfamily TREROJNIN^. 
Genus SPHENOCEECUS, G. R. Gray. 
663. SPHENOCEECUS SPHENUEUS. 
THE WEDGE-TAILED GREEN PIGEON. 
Vinago sphenura, Vig. P. Z. 8. 1831^ p. 173. Sphenocercus sphenurus, Jerd. 
B. Ind. ii. p. 453^ Hume S)- Renders. Lah, to Yarh. p. 270^ Hume, Nests and 
Eggs, p. 494 ; id. S. F. iii. p. 163 ; Wald. in Bl. B. Burm. p. 144; Hume ^ Dav. 
S. F. vi. p. 415 ; Hume, 8. F. yiil p. 109 ; Scully, S. F. yiii. p. 339 ; Oates, S. F. 
X. p. 235. 
Description. — Male. Head_, neck and lower plumage greenish yellow,, 
the crown and breast washed with rufous ; upper back slaty green ; wing- 
coverts^ tertiaries^ back^ rump and upper tail-coverts dark dull green ; the 
centre of the back and the lesser coverts washed with maroon; primaries 
and secondaries blackish ; the greater wing-coverts and secondaries narrowly 
margined with yellow ; central tail-feathers green^ the others ashy^ more and 
more washed w'itli green as they approach the centre ; flanks and region of 
the vent mixed ashy green and yellow ; under tail-coverts pale cinnamon. 
The female differs in having no maroon on the wings and back, in 
having no rufous tinge on the crown and breast, in being of a darker green, 
and in having the under tail-coverts centred with ashy green. 
Legs, feet and claws crimson-pink ; bill dull smalt-blue, horny portion 
pale skimmed-milk-blue ; orbital skin pale smalt ; irides with an inner ring 
of pale bright blue and an outer ring of buffy pink. {Davison.) 
Length 13 inches, tail 6, wing 7, tarsus '9, bill from gape "9. The 
female appears to be smaller and to have a shorter tail. 
The Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon is found throughout the hill-portions 
of Pegu and the forests skirting them. Mr. de Wet sent it to me from 
near Tonghoo; and Capt. Wardlaw Ramsay procured it on the Tonghoo 
hills, Mr. Davison met with it in Tenasserim as far south as Mooleyit ; 
and this is probably its southern limit. 
It occurs in the hill-tracts of Eastern Bengal and along the Himalayas 
to the north-west. 
The Pigeons of this and the next three genera are termed Green 
Pigeons,^^ from the prevailing colour of their plumage. The males are 
not difficult to be identified ; but the females resemble each other very 
closely. The two birds of this genus may be at once separated from all 
the others by their peculiar wedge-shaped tails and by the absence of a 
sinuation on the third primary. 
The present species is found in thick-forest country, frequenting trees 
