1309. Tartar cambayensis.
The Little Brown Dove.
Columba cambayensis, Gm. Syst. Nat. i, p. 779 (1788). Turtur senegalensis, apud Blyth, Cat. p. 237 ; Davids. & Wend. S. F. vii, p. 86; Hume. Cat. no. 794 ; Vidal, S. F. ix, p 74 ; Barnes, ibid. pp. 219, 458; Butler, ibid. p. 420; Reid, S. F. x, p. 60; Davidson, ibid. p. 315 ; Davison, ibid. p. 408 ; Barnes, Birds Bom. p. 291 ; Oates in Hume's N. & E. 2nd ed. ii, p. 351 ; Sharpe, Yarkand Miss., Aves, p. 118 (nee Brisson). Turtur cambavensis, Jerdon, B. I. iii, p. 478; Stoliczka, J. A. S. B. xxxvii, pt. 2, p. 66; xli, pt. 2, p. 248; Hume, S. F. i, p. 218; Adam, ibid. p. 390; Butler, S. F. iv, p. 3 ; Fairbank, S. F. iv, p. 262; v, p. 408 ; Ball, S. F. vii, p. 224; Biddulph, Ibis, 1881, p. 92; 1882, p. 286; Scully, Ibis, 1881, p. 585; C. Swinhoe, Ibis, 1832, p. 117; St. John, Ibis, 1889, p. 174; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 451.
Chota fakhta, Perki, Tortru fakhta, Panduk,H.; Hola, Mahr.; Chitti bella guwa, Sowata guwa, Tel.; Touta-pora, Tam.
Coloration. Head, neck, and breast lilac, tinged with vinous, paler on the sides of the head; chin whitish ; on the sides and front of the lower neck is a gorget of black feathers, bifid at the end and broadly tipped with ferruginous; back, wing-coverts near the back, tertiaries, scapulars, rump, upper tail-coverts, and middle tail-feathers light earthy brown ; distal wing-coverts ashy: winglet and greater primary-coverts blackish brown ; quills dark brown ; outer tail-feathers with basal half blackish, terminal half white, outer margin of outermost pair white throughout, the two pairs next to the middle pair chiefly grey above ; the vinous breast passes into white on the abdomen ; lower tail-coverts white ; wing-lining and flanks dark ashy grey.
Bill blackish; irides dark brown, with a whitish inner circle; legs lake-red (Jerdon).
Length about 10.5; tail 4.75; wing 5 ; tarsus .85 ; bill from gape .75.
This Dove has been regarded as identical with the African T. senegalensis, which, however, is quite distinct and has the upper surface rufous.
Distribution. Throughout almost the whole peninsula of India from the base of the Himalayas, rare on the Malabar coast, and unknown in Ceylon, also wanting in Lower Bengal and to the eastward. This Dove is found in North-western India and the Western Himalayas, in Sind, the Punjab, Kashmir, Turkestan, Afghanistan and Baluchistan, and in Arabia.
Habits, &c. This and the next species are the most familiar of all Indian doves, and are commonly found about houses ; they are also abundant in bush-jungle, and are two of the commonest birds everywhere. The call of T. cambayensis is "low, subdued, and musical, a dissyllabic sound,repeated four or five times successively" (Blyth). The present species breeds throughout the year and has several broods yearly ; the nest, a slight one, is placed indifferently on shrubs or low trees or in buildings, or occasionally on the ground. The white glossy eggs measure about 1 by .85.
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