COLTJMBA INTEEMEDIA. 
(THE INDIAN EOCK-PIGEON.) 
Columha intermedici, Strickland, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1844, xii. p. 39 ; Kelaart, Pro- 
dromus. Cat. p. 130 (1852) ; Layard, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. 1854, xiv. p. 59 ; Jerdon, 
B. ofind. iii. p. 469 (1864); Blyth, Ibis, 1867, p. 149; Holdsw. P. Z. S. 1872, p. 46; 
Hume, Str. Feath. 1873, p. 217 ; Ball, ibid. 1874, p. 425 ; Hume, Nests and Eggs, iii. 
p. 499 (1875) ; Legge, Ibis, 1875, p. 400; Ball, Str. Feath. 1875, p. 208; Butler & 
Hume, ibid. 1876, p. 3 ; Ball, ibid. 1878, vii. p. 224 ; Cripps, t. c. p. 296. 
Columha oenas, Burgess, P. Z. S. 1855, p. 34. 
Columha livia, Adams, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 187. 
Columha livia, var., Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. A. S. B. p. 233 (1849); Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, 
p. 63 (1873). 
The Blue RocJc-Pigeon of Sportsmen in India ; Rocic-Pigeon, Europeans in Ceylon. Kahutar, 
Hind. ; Gudi-gwurai, lit. “ Pagoda-Pigeon,” Telugu ; Kovilpora, Tamil ; Parvi, Mahr. 
(Jerdon) ; Mdda-prdd, Ceylonese Tamils. 
Adult male and female. Length 13‘2 to 13'5 inches ; wing 8-6 ; tail 4-25 ; tarsus 1‘1 to 1'2 ; middle toe and claw 1'25 ; 
bill to gape 0-95 to I'O ; expanse 24-6. Weight 12 oz. 
Iris buff, mottled at the outer edge with red specks ; eyelid plumbeous ; bill blackish leaden ; cere grey ; legs and 
feet pinkish red, claws black. 
Immediately after death the iris becomes j'ellowish red. 
Head and upper part of throat unglossed dark bluish slate, the ear-coverts and cheeks generally the darkest, and 
blending into the metallic green and a'mothj'stine reflections of the entire neck, chest, and upper part of the inter- 
scapular region ; back, wmg-coverts, and secondaries pale slatish blue ; the greater coverts and secondaries crossed 
by two black bands, the latter of which e.xtends to the terminal portion of the tertials ; primaries slaty brown ; 
rump, upper tail-coverts, tad. and lower parts davlcet' slate-hlue than the hacJc j the tail wdth a subterminal black 
band • abdomen and thigh-coverts paler than the breast ; under wing-coverts and under surface of the quills at 
the base w'hitlsh. 
Vtyuiiff. Iris sullied yellowish; legs and feet dusky reddish; head and neck brownish, the latter with very slight 
metallic reflections ; wings brownish, with the dark bands narrow. Birds probably not quite mature have the 
lower part of the hind neck less illumined with the metallic reflections, and the wing-bars narrower, with less black 
on the tertials than in old birds. 
Ohs. The Indian Eock-Pigeon differs from the European one in having the rump dark slate, instead of pure white. 
The Ceylon race of this Pigeon is typical 0. intermedia, having the rump as dark as any specimens I have seen 
from India. The species varies in this respect ou the continent. Mr. Hume remarks that those he shot at the 
Vingorla rocks and St. George’s Island on the west coast were the most typical he had seen from any part of India ; 
they must therefore have been quite as dark as our Ceylonese birds. 
Sti'ickland, who first discriminated and described the Indian Pigeon under its present title, thus remarks concerning 
it ; “ Distinguished, besides the banding and grey rump, by its black beak, and by the metallic-green feathers 
entirely surrounding the neck.” The last character is, I think, worthless ; but in the matter of its very dark colour 
above and beneath, and of its rump, darker than the back, the typical 0. intermedia is a good subspecies or local 
race of the European bird. In the south of India and Ceylon there is scarcely any variation in the plumage, and 
the birds inhabiting these parts constitute the subspecies. In the north-west of Lidia and parts of the Himalayas the 
intermediate races are evidently formed by the interbreeding of the tw'o species, as everyone know's how prone 
Pigeons are to interbreed. There is much difference of opinion as to the validity of our Indian species, owing to 
the existence of intermediate forms ; but I incline to the belief that there were originally two very distinct forms— 
the one (0. livia) pale grey, with a pure white rump, the other (C. intermedia) leaden colour, with the rump darker 
