65° N. lat., and has even straggled up to 66°HVN'. : in the
©entrai portion it is generally resident, but in the southern
countries bordering the Mediterranean it is more especially
abundant on migration, although^ breeds in some numbers
down ta Morocco, Tind-also in Algeria. -Its western .limit
is the group of the Azores, where according-to£ Mr. Godman
it appears to' be confined to the central and eastern islands.
Toî tie eastward" its- range cannot be traced with certainty
much beyond the IJral, in the north, or beyond the Tigris in
the south : in Asia Minor, Palestine, and as: far' as Bagdad
thiè species is certainly abundant, but in' Turkestan, and to
the east of the line' of the Persian Gulf, it" appears to-be
replaced by an allied speéiesf^'C^Mll't-Bp.}; with neck-
patches of a buff colour instead of pure whites#^
In the adult male the bill is yellow towards the tip and
orange-red' at the base ; the. soft parts abolit the 'nostrils
almost white;' irides straw-yellow;?headland upper part-of
the - neck bluish-grey,-the feathers on the sides' of' the'neck
glossed with violet and purple, the' lower' ones -being tipped
with white, forming parfesof four or fivenbliqUe rings*,-back,
scapulars, both sets of-wingseoverts and tërtials a shade
darker> and browner than- the head ; the '«first* four or5 five
feathers’of both ' sets ’ of wing-coverts white1, or - partially
white, which, when the wing fs* elbtfedypr#dUces- white
line "down the e'dgè .of the'wing, but when^th'é^ tare spread
open.thèse' feathers ^lën^form» a-conspicuous«-white patch-,
which is visible-" at' a'"great-distance ; the"primary quill-
feathers are lead-grey with narrow white inargins^id^ black
shafts ; lower hack,' rump, and upper tâîlte©Ver,ts riflûishi
grey-p tail-fe^thêrs'-tweivèi;> the paiirin the centre^oP-€wo-'
colours,'the basal two-thirds bluish-grèy y the'ends -darM-lead?
I greyfrjVthe s (ffche’r ten feathers'of"" three shades’ df grëy^the
middle part’being the lîgbtékfrirf^ ,
neck and - breast *vinous-purple ; 'b'elly,iveht, and- 'under-tail-
coverts ash-grey ;duàdhr surface^ tail-fèathers pearl-gpëÿ in
the.middle, lead-grey at both end®; tarsi and feet red, claws
brown.
The whole, length is,,seventeenjnchesi -Prom the carpal
joint to the end of the wing ten inches ; the second quill-
feather being the longest in the wing, from which the others
decrease gradually.
The female is a little smaller than the male, and her
colours are somewhat duller.
Young birds are fully fledged by the end of the third
week, and are then of a lead-grey, with a very conspicuous
wing-bar, on the..upper -parts ; the breast being vinous-
brown, with numerous yellowish filaments stall adhering to
the tips of the feathers. The bill, which is tumid and quite
out of proportion to the size of .the bird, is ..even more
flattened out, and more Indistinctly nq.tqh.ed on the edges of
the under mandible, than in most domestic Pigeons. The
colour of both bill and feetgt^this^tinpie is a livid grey:
the former with a white .tip crossed by. a narrow black bar.
Before their first moult they have no white on the sides of
the neck, and the general colour the plumage is less pure
and glossy, hut they assume the adult plumage the first
year. Varieties more oj -less spotted over -dhe body with
white, and even perfect’albinos, are sometimes met with-: a
remarkable example of the latter is in the collection of Mr.
John Marshall, of Belmont, Taunton.