700 
COLUMBA INTEEMEDIA. 
I 
from Trincomalie. They are met with in many plaees on the adjaeent mainland ; and I have seen them flying 
over the Peria-kerretje salt lake towards the remarkable roeky eminenees rising up on its eastern shores. 
Here there is probably a colony. 
In India it is a very abundant bird^ and, contrary to its habit in Ceylon, is found much about “ large 
buildings, such as churches, pagodas, mosques, tombs, and the like, frequently entering the verandahs of 
buildings and building in the crevices. Holes in walls of cities or towns, too, are favourite places ; and in 
some parts of the country they prefer holes in wells, especially, I think, in the west of India, the Deccan, &e. 
The celebrated falls of Gaissoppa are tenanted by thousands of Blue Pigeons, which here associate with 
the large Alpine Swift ’’ {Jerdon ) . 
In the Deccan and in the Khandala district it is said to be very abundant and universally distributed ; 
along the west coast there are various colonies, one of which is at the well-known Pigeon Island; and another at 
the Vingorla rocks, where there is a cliff pierced from side to side by a tunnel-like cave, which, Mr. Hume tells 
us, is tenanted by numbers of these birds. Prom either side of the peninsula it ranges w'est and east, and in 
the former direction is numerous. Captain Butler remarks that it abounds in the Guzerat province. In Sindh 
Mr. Hume foimd it abundant on the plains during the day, returning to the hills to roost, and when grain is 
ripening large flocks visit the neighbourhood of Jacobabad. It extends northward of Sindh, ranging into the 
Suliman hills, where Mr. Ball noticed it, as well as its European relative. Along the sub-Himalayan districts 
it is found as high up as Kotegurh, according to Herr von Pelzeln ; and he also records it from Pangi, which 
has an elevation of 9000 feet. In Lower Bengal it is common, and in Chota Nagpur it is frequent, according 
to Mr. Ball, in deep rocky gorges cut by the rivers in Sirguja and Udipur, as also in other suitable localities 
throughout the division ; he likewise records it from Sambalpur and Orissa north of the Mahanadi river, and 
from other localities in this eastern territory, while Mr. Hume notes it from Raipur. In Purreedpore it is very 
common, according to Mr. Cripps, frequenting the ruins of indigo-factories and temples. Blyth asserts that 
it is common in Burmah ; but I notice that Mr. Oates did not procure it in Pegu, nor Dr. Armstrong in the 
Irrawaddy delta. Speaking of Tenasserim, Mr. Hume remarks that it occurs nowhere in the province. If it 
occurs in Northern Burmah, it must extend thither across to Siam ; for in the national collection I have seen 
a specimen from that country not to be separated from Indian ones. Regarding its range northward of the 
Himalayas, it is difficult to speak with certainty ; I find that it is doubtfully included by Dresser in Severtzofl'^s 
list of Turkestan birds, reference being made to a Pigeon said by the latter to breed throughout the country 
up to elevations of 4000 feet. Both C. livia and C. rupestris are found in Turkestan. 
Habits . — In Ceylon the Blue Rock-Pigeon is essentially an inhabitant of out-of-the-way, wild, and little- 
frequented spots ; the country does not, like India, abound in inland walled towns, temples, and pagodas, which 
there are the natural resort of the species ; and it is consequently driven to such rocky localities as I have 
alluded to above, and is not therefore nearly such a well-known bird as in India. The eastern and northern 
bivisions of the island, however, teem with so many remarkable rocky masses, towering far above the circum- 
jacent forests, such as the Priars Hood, “Westminster Abbey,^^ the Elephant rock, the “ Gunner’s Coin,” Sigiri 
and Danibulla rocks, Rittagalla, Mahintale, and a host more of nature’s mighty castles, the very resorts of all 
others for the “ Blue Rock,” that it has always been a wonder to me that the species is not far more numerous 
than it is — the only solution of the problem being that these natural strongholds are situated too much in 
forest-country, besides which there is a lack throughout Ceylon of the extensive cultivated tracts which are 
necessary to the existence of this Pigeon. 
The islet off Nilavele is a mass of rock, its coast-line consisting of enormous boulders, and its summit 
divided by large crevices into huge “humps” of stone, on which, as well as on the surrounding masses, the Pigeons 
perch in scores. Tliey fly across to the mainland in the early morning, and make their incursions over the 
adjoining paddy-fields, returning about noon to their stronghold, where, though they are difficult of approach 
when not feeding, they seem to evince little fear, owing probably to their being crammed with food. On the 
occasion of a visit to this spot with a friend we shot numbers, but did not succeed in driving away the flock, 
for they flew round and round over the water, and speedily realighted on the rocks. About 3 o’clock they start 
off again to the mainland, flying very strongly; and they may be met with almost anywhere along the adjoining 
sea-board during the afternoon. I have seen two or three at times feeding on the salt flats round the Nilavele 
