(6) OSMOTRERON POMPADORA POMPADORA (Gm.).
THE POMPADOUR GREEN PIGEON.
Columba pompadora Gm., Syst. Nat., I p. 775 (1788); Blyth, J.A.S.B., XIV p. 852. Treron pompadora Blyth, J.A.S.B., XXI p. 356. Vinago aromatica Jerdon, Madr. J.L.S., XII p. 13. Treron malabarica (part) Blyth, Cat. B.M.A.S.B., p. 229. Treron flavogularis id., J.A.S.B., XXVI p. 225. Osmotreron flavogularis id. ib., XXXI p. 344. Osmotreron pompadora Hume, Str. Feath., Ill p. 162 ; id. ib., VI p. 414; id., Cat. no. 777 ; Legge, B. Cey., p. 728 ; Parker, Str. Feath., IX p. 481 ; Salvadori, Cat. B.M., XXI p. 51 ; Blanf., Avi. Brit. L, IV p. 9; Sharpe, Handlist, I p. 54 ; Butler, J.B.N.H.S., X p. 311. Osmotreron pompadoura Jerdon, B.I., III p. 452.
Vernacular Names. Batta-goya, Cing.; Patcha-praa, Alam-praa, Tamil in Ceylon.
Description.
Adult male.—The colour of the upper-parts where red, agrees in tint with the same parts in 0. p. affinis. It differs from that subspecies in having the fore-head, lores, and sides of the head more yellowish and the chin and throat a pure, almost lemon-yellow. The grey of the crown is generally entirely replaced with green, though a few specimens have a fairly distinct pateh of grey in the centre. The lower tail-coverts are a pale, buffy- white instead of cinnamon.
Adult female. Differs from the male in the same way as they do in the other subspecies.
Colours of soft parts. " Bill glaucous green, paling to bluish in the apieal portion ; hides carmine red with a cobalt inner circle ; eyelids glaucous green ; legs and feet purple-red " (Legge).
Measurements.
Length about 10.5 in ; tail 3.6 ; wing 5.6 ; tarsus .8 bill from gape .9 in. (Blanford).
There is only a small series of these birds in the British Museum, but enough to show that the sexes do not diSer materially, if at all, in size. The wings vary from 5.45 in. ( = 138.4 mm.) to 5.76 ( = 146.2 mm.) and average 5.63 ( = 142.8 mm.), the extremes in size being, in eaeh case, the measure- ment of the wing of a female.
Distribution.
Ceylon.—Jerdon gives the habitat of this bird as Southern India also, but this is probably duo to some mistake. Since Blanford wrote the Avifauna of British India, several field-ornithologists have worked Southern India well (amongst others who might be mentioned are Cardew, Fairbank, Bell, Dewar, Major Smith, Bourdillon, and others), but none have ever come across it.
Mr. J. Stuart has also worked Travaneore for the last ten years or so with great thoroughness, employing an army of observers in the location of birds and nests, but has failed altogether to ever come across, or to obtain a specimen, of the Pompadour Green Pigeon.
Nidification.
There is practically nothing on record regarding the nidification of this Green Pigeon. Butler found a nest being built in June, but the bird did not lay, and no description is given of the nest. Parker, in Stray Feathers, merely states that the average of eight eggs is 1.15 in. by 0.88, and observes that " this bird deserts its nests on the least possible provo- cation." One pair of Parker's eggs sent to me was taken on 24.5.8S, and is said to have come from " a small roughly-made nest of sticks placed in a sapling."
I have a fair series of these eggs taken by W. Jenkins, chiefly at or about Welgampola. They are, of course, pure white, and of the usual smooth but not very close texture, and in shape broad ellipses, with the exception of one pair, which are somewhat lengthened. They vary in length between 1.10 in. ( = 27.9 mm.) by 1.21 ( = 30.7 mm.) and in breadth between .91 in. ( = 23.1 mm.) and .96 ( = 24.4 mm.).
No nests were sent me with the eggs, but they were described as rough platforms of twigs interlaced with one another with the slightest of depressions in the centre, and measuring about 6 in. across. In no case was there any lining, and all the nests were either on high bushes or small trees in forests.
This is a bird of both hill and plains country, being found at certain seasons at the level of the sea, and at others as high as 4,000 ft., whilst it is resident practically over the greater part of this area. The one essential is that the country should be well wooded, and it is seldom, if ever, to be found outside forest-land, or at least land that is well timbered, though it may wander into the open country, or short distances away from forest when tempted by plentiful feeding.
It appears to be entirely frugivorous in its diet, though it would doubtless soon take to grain in captivity. A pair I saw in a cage in Slave Island, Ceylon, were fed entirely on bread and milk and plantains, and they seemed to be in a very good condition.
There is very little on record about this Green Pigeon except as recorded by Legge in his Birds of Ceylon. He there writes : " This Pigeon is an inhabitant of woods, forests, and open timbered country : it collects together hi the fine Banyan, Bo, and Palu trees, which are scattered through the low jungles of the eastern and northern Districts, and also in the magnificent outspreading Mee trees which line the borders of the jungle tanks, and in such resorts feeds in flocks on the luscious berries which these large trees provide. Its flesh is at all times delicious; but when killed during the fruiting time of the Banyan and ironwood, there is nothing which surpasses this Pigeon in flavour in the Island. It is a shy bird and difficult to kill, except when feeding; it may then be easily shot out of large forest trees, provided the sports- man be concealed, as it feeds so greedily that many do not take flight on the discharge of a gun. They collect in groups of a dozen or more, in the early morning or after feeding, and sit motionless on the tops of trees. On being alarmed one or two dart off, and are followed by their companions, one after another, till the whole have taken flight. They are very strong on the wing, and fly with a steady straight course. Their note is a melodious, soft, modulated whistle, which can be precisely imitated, and by doing which many are enticed by ' Eurasians ' in the North of Ceylon, into uttering it, and are thus more easily descried in the green foliage and then shot. There is something peculiarly charming in their human-like notes when heard in the tops of lofty trees, overshadowing the mighty bunds by which the ancient Kings of Ceylon dammed up valleys, and skilfully formed vast reservoirs for the support of their subjects in the wild forests of the Vanni. In the Wellaway Korale, where the Pigeon is abundant, I have seen, as in the case of the two preceding species, large flocks in scattered company returning in the evening from their feeding ground, or from the widely dispersed waterholes of that district, and by remaining in wait for them in the same position I have had excellent shooting. Both this, and the Orange-breasted Pigeon, however, are very strong birds, and take more killing to bring them down, especially when perched, than almost any bird of the same size in Ceylon."
THE POMPADOUR GREEN PIGEON.
Columba pompadora Gm., Syst. Nat., I p. 775 (1788); Blyth, J.A.S.B., XIV p. 852. Treron pompadora Blyth, J.A.S.B., XXI p. 356. Vinago aromatica Jerdon, Madr. J.L.S., XII p. 13. Treron malabarica (part) Blyth, Cat. B.M.A.S.B., p. 229. Treron flavogularis id., J.A.S.B., XXVI p. 225. Osmotreron flavogularis id. ib., XXXI p. 344. Osmotreron pompadora Hume, Str. Feath., Ill p. 162 ; id. ib., VI p. 414; id., Cat. no. 777 ; Legge, B. Cey., p. 728 ; Parker, Str. Feath., IX p. 481 ; Salvadori, Cat. B.M., XXI p. 51 ; Blanf., Avi. Brit. L, IV p. 9; Sharpe, Handlist, I p. 54 ; Butler, J.B.N.H.S., X p. 311. Osmotreron pompadoura Jerdon, B.I., III p. 452.
Vernacular Names. Batta-goya, Cing.; Patcha-praa, Alam-praa, Tamil in Ceylon.
Description.
Adult male.—The colour of the upper-parts where red, agrees in tint with the same parts in 0. p. affinis. It differs from that subspecies in having the fore-head, lores, and sides of the head more yellowish and the chin and throat a pure, almost lemon-yellow. The grey of the crown is generally entirely replaced with green, though a few specimens have a fairly distinct pateh of grey in the centre. The lower tail-coverts are a pale, buffy- white instead of cinnamon.
Adult female. Differs from the male in the same way as they do in the other subspecies.
Colours of soft parts. " Bill glaucous green, paling to bluish in the apieal portion ; hides carmine red with a cobalt inner circle ; eyelids glaucous green ; legs and feet purple-red " (Legge).
Measurements.
Length about 10.5 in ; tail 3.6 ; wing 5.6 ; tarsus .8 bill from gape .9 in. (Blanford).
There is only a small series of these birds in the British Museum, but enough to show that the sexes do not diSer materially, if at all, in size. The wings vary from 5.45 in. ( = 138.4 mm.) to 5.76 ( = 146.2 mm.) and average 5.63 ( = 142.8 mm.), the extremes in size being, in eaeh case, the measure- ment of the wing of a female.
Distribution.
Ceylon.—Jerdon gives the habitat of this bird as Southern India also, but this is probably duo to some mistake. Since Blanford wrote the Avifauna of British India, several field-ornithologists have worked Southern India well (amongst others who might be mentioned are Cardew, Fairbank, Bell, Dewar, Major Smith, Bourdillon, and others), but none have ever come across it.
Mr. J. Stuart has also worked Travaneore for the last ten years or so with great thoroughness, employing an army of observers in the location of birds and nests, but has failed altogether to ever come across, or to obtain a specimen, of the Pompadour Green Pigeon.
Nidification.
There is practically nothing on record regarding the nidification of this Green Pigeon. Butler found a nest being built in June, but the bird did not lay, and no description is given of the nest. Parker, in Stray Feathers, merely states that the average of eight eggs is 1.15 in. by 0.88, and observes that " this bird deserts its nests on the least possible provo- cation." One pair of Parker's eggs sent to me was taken on 24.5.8S, and is said to have come from " a small roughly-made nest of sticks placed in a sapling."
I have a fair series of these eggs taken by W. Jenkins, chiefly at or about Welgampola. They are, of course, pure white, and of the usual smooth but not very close texture, and in shape broad ellipses, with the exception of one pair, which are somewhat lengthened. They vary in length between 1.10 in. ( = 27.9 mm.) by 1.21 ( = 30.7 mm.) and in breadth between .91 in. ( = 23.1 mm.) and .96 ( = 24.4 mm.).
No nests were sent me with the eggs, but they were described as rough platforms of twigs interlaced with one another with the slightest of depressions in the centre, and measuring about 6 in. across. In no case was there any lining, and all the nests were either on high bushes or small trees in forests.
This is a bird of both hill and plains country, being found at certain seasons at the level of the sea, and at others as high as 4,000 ft., whilst it is resident practically over the greater part of this area. The one essential is that the country should be well wooded, and it is seldom, if ever, to be found outside forest-land, or at least land that is well timbered, though it may wander into the open country, or short distances away from forest when tempted by plentiful feeding.
It appears to be entirely frugivorous in its diet, though it would doubtless soon take to grain in captivity. A pair I saw in a cage in Slave Island, Ceylon, were fed entirely on bread and milk and plantains, and they seemed to be in a very good condition.
There is very little on record about this Green Pigeon except as recorded by Legge in his Birds of Ceylon. He there writes : " This Pigeon is an inhabitant of woods, forests, and open timbered country : it collects together hi the fine Banyan, Bo, and Palu trees, which are scattered through the low jungles of the eastern and northern Districts, and also in the magnificent outspreading Mee trees which line the borders of the jungle tanks, and in such resorts feeds in flocks on the luscious berries which these large trees provide. Its flesh is at all times delicious; but when killed during the fruiting time of the Banyan and ironwood, there is nothing which surpasses this Pigeon in flavour in the Island. It is a shy bird and difficult to kill, except when feeding; it may then be easily shot out of large forest trees, provided the sports- man be concealed, as it feeds so greedily that many do not take flight on the discharge of a gun. They collect in groups of a dozen or more, in the early morning or after feeding, and sit motionless on the tops of trees. On being alarmed one or two dart off, and are followed by their companions, one after another, till the whole have taken flight. They are very strong on the wing, and fly with a steady straight course. Their note is a melodious, soft, modulated whistle, which can be precisely imitated, and by doing which many are enticed by ' Eurasians ' in the North of Ceylon, into uttering it, and are thus more easily descried in the green foliage and then shot. There is something peculiarly charming in their human-like notes when heard in the tops of lofty trees, overshadowing the mighty bunds by which the ancient Kings of Ceylon dammed up valleys, and skilfully formed vast reservoirs for the support of their subjects in the wild forests of the Vanni. In the Wellaway Korale, where the Pigeon is abundant, I have seen, as in the case of the two preceding species, large flocks in scattered company returning in the evening from their feeding ground, or from the widely dispersed waterholes of that district, and by remaining in wait for them in the same position I have had excellent shooting. Both this, and the Orange-breasted Pigeon, however, are very strong birds, and take more killing to bring them down, especially when perched, than almost any bird of the same size in Ceylon."
