THE COMMON OR PINK-NECKED aEEEN PIGEON 
^ Tret on vertuins ventans {Linn.) 
Malay name : — Punai. 
Description'. — The mak and the female differ somewhat 
markedly in plumage. The male has the head gmy and a 
broad purplish-lilac collar round the neck. The upper parts 
are green tingt^d with brownish on the upper tail coverts. A 
large orange patch is conspicuous on the breast which is 
otherwise green like the back. The abdomen is greenish 
yellow and the under-tail coverts chestnut. Excepting the 
quills which are black, the wings are green crossed diagonally 
by a narrow yellow bar. Seen from above the tail i? slaty-bJue 
with a black tip. 
The female has the head green and she never develops the 
bright orange patch on the breast or the lilac collar, The 
underparts are much lighter and not so deep a green as in the 
male, and the under-tail coverts instead of being deep chestnut 
are yellowish-white faintly tinged here and there with pale 
chestnut » 
Until they moult in their first autumn when the adult 
plumage is gradually acquired, the young males are very similar 
in plumage to the adult females. 
The homy part of the beak is slaty in colour but the soft 
basal portion is greenish. The legs are red or purplish. 
The length is given by some good authorities as reaching 
II inches but most of the birds measured by us are nearer 
9i inches; wing between 5 and 6 inches. There is very Jittle 
difference in size between the sexes. 
Disirlbuilon: — This punai is not found in India proper, 
the "green pigeons" of that country being of aUied species, 
but broadly speaking its geographical range extends from 
Siam, through the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra, Borneo, Java, 
Celebes and the Philippines. In the Peninsula it is very 
numerous and the commonest of the small green pigeons 
C47] 
