706 
TUETrE SUEATENSIS. 
Himalayas, collected by Capt. Pinwell, measures 5'6 inches in the wing, which is only O'l more than large 
Ceylonese individuals. Some Indian specimens are characterized by a stronger blue tint on the head than is 
noticeable in most Ceylon birds. 
Allied to the present species is Turtw tigrinus, from the Malay peninsula, Sumatra, Java, Celebes, Lombok, Timor, and 
other islands. It differs chiefly in its plain or unspotted back, and in the different colour of the spots on the wing- 
coverts, these being more rufous than in T. suratensis. It is, however, a darker bird, and has the abdomen and 
flanks of a warm fulvous colour, and the isabelline of the chest and breast deeper than in its Indian ally. The 
wings of four examples in the national coUectiou, from the Malay archijvclago, vary from 5-5 to 5-7 inches. A 
Labuan specimen has the under surface lighter than any others, and the head bluer. In the Malay peninsula and 
Tenasserim, and also in Burmah, this species, according to Mr. Hume, passes through intermediate races, approxi- 
mating, in the latter region, to the Indian bird, where it has the vinaceous spots of true suTcitensis reduced to 
narrow lines, with the ffark feather-centres and tips of tigrinus. This race would, however, in my opinion, be more 
related to the former than the latter species, which is distinguished by having no pale markings at all on the back. 
T. cJiinensis is another species, larger than T. tigrinus, and perfectly plain on the back, without the dark central lines, 
and with the under surface darker. 
Distribution . — ^This is an exceedingly numerous bird in Ceylon, being more or less diffused over the whole 
of the low country, in parts of which it is remarkably abundant, and is likewise an inhabitant of the Kandvan 
province up to an altitude of 3000 feet or more. Common and well known in the immediate vicinity of Colombo 
it is equally so throughout the interior of the Western Province, inhabiting suitable localities in the well- wooded 
district of Saffragam, and likewise in the equally sylvan and hilly tract of country in the south-west of the 
island. It is independent of climate, for it is almost quite as common in the dry section of country eastward 
of the southern ranges ; and in the open tracts, surrounded, by wood, of the Eastern Province, and thence 
north to Trincomalie, I scarcely ever failed to meet with it. It is found in the interior of the northern division 
of the island wherever there is open land, on the borders of tanks, paddy-fields, or clearings surrounding juuo-le 
villages. In the extreme north it is common, but in places not so abundant as the last. Layard found it 
numerous in the J affna peninsula, and so did Mr. Holdsworth at Aripu. I have observed it in Dumbara and 
in the Knuckles, Deltota, Hewahette, and Piisselawa districts, as also in Uva; but I do not think it ranges 
much higher than these upland valleys, where it affeets the vicinity of the “terraced” paddy-fields of the 
Kandyans. 
It is generally distributed throughout India from the extreme south to the Himalayas, which it ascends 
to an altitude of 7000 feet. “As a rule,” says Jerdon, “it is most abundant in forest districts or well-wooded 
countries, and is consequently rare in the bare Carnatie tableland, the Deccan, and the North-western 
Provinces generally ; and most abundant on the Malabar coast up to Surat, Lower Bengal, and the foot of the 
Himalayas.” It breeds throughout Nepal, according to Mr. Hodgson, and in Upper India, says Mr. Hume 
“chiefly affects the submontane districts, whence, as summer approaches, many migrate to the lower 
forest-clad hills and valleys, where also a good many are permanent residents. In dry traets such as 
Cawmpore, Etawah, and Agra they are but rarely seen, and still more rarely found breeding, while at Bareilly, 
Bijnour, and Shahjehanpoor they are the commonest Dove.” Of late it has been recorded bv the Eev. 
Dr. Fairbank as the most common Dove at the base and on the lower ranges of the Palanis, and also as being 
abundant on the western slopes of the Mahabaleshwar hills ; by Mr. Davidson as common at Sholapoor in 
the Deccan during the rains,- by Mr. Ball as occurring at Bard wan, in the Eajmehal hills, at Midnapur, 
Manbhum, Lohardugga, Sambalpur, Orissa, Nowagarh, and Karial, and throughout Chota Nagpur, not 
being, however, so eommon there as the last species. In the north-west of the empire it is not so numerous 
for Capt. Malden only met with it in Upper Sindh. In the wooded districts near Mount Aboo it is eommon^ 
but near Deesa, aecording to Capt. Butler, it is only found during the rains; and this is also the case about 
the Sambhur Lake. In Furreedpore and about Calcutta it is common and resident. It does not seem to 
extend beyond Dacca towards the east, for I And no comment concerning it in the ' List of the Birds of 
Cachar ; ’ while in Burmah it seems to exist in an intermediate form moi’e nearly related to itself than to its 
Malayan ally T. tigrinus. 
Habits . — Wherever there are trees surrounding, or encircled by, open places, this familiar little Dove 
