(50)   MACROPYGIA  RUFICEPS   (Temm.).

THE LITTLE MALAY CUCKOO-DOVE.

Columba ruficeps Temm., PI. Col., pi. 561 (1835). Macropygia amboiensis (?) Raffl., Trans. L.S., X1TI p. 318 (1822). Macropygia ruficeps Stoliczka, J.A.S.B., XXXIX   pt. 2 p. 331 ;   Blyth,  B. Burma, p. 146; Hume, Str. Feath., VI p. 420 ; Everett, J.S.B.A.S. 1899, p. 103 ; Salvadori, Cat. B.M., XXI p. 360 ; Blanf., Avi. Brit. I., IV p. 51; Sharpe, Hand-List, I p. 73 ; Robinson, J.B.N.H.S., XX p. 261 ; Cook, ib., p. 675 ; Robinson, J.F.M.S. 1905, p. 55. Macropygia assimilis Hume, Str. Feath., H p. 441 ; Wald., in BIyth's B. Burma, p. 146; Hume and Dav., Str. Feath., VI p. 420 ; Hume, ib., VIII pp. 68, 110 ; id., Cat. no. 791, ter; Oates, B. Burma, II p. 296. Macropygia ruficeps assimilis Streseman, Nov. Zool., XX p. 312.

Vernacular Name. Tckukor api, Malay.

Description.—
Adult male. Upper part of the head, lores, cheeks, ear- coverts and anterior of sides of neck cinnamon-rufous, darkening posteriorly and changing gradually into purple-brown on the lower-neck and upper-back, the purple tint being generally most distinct on the sides. The shoulders and sides of the extreme lower-neck are more or less glossed with lilac, and, except in very old birds, there are always faint indications of dark bars on these parts and sometimes also a little pale-rufous barring as well. Back, rump, and upper tail-coverts brown, the latter more or less rusty in tint, and the scapulars the same as the back, but rather darker. Wings deep brown, the coverts edged with rufous, least heavily so in the oldest birds, and in such practically not at all on the greater coverts ; primaries and outer secondaries very finely edged with rufous, and the innermost secondaries with broader rufous edges, and with a considerable amount of rufous at the bases of the inner-webs. Tail, central feathers dark red-brown, in freshly- moulted birds showing very faint obsolete dark bars in a good light; outer- most rectrices chestnut, a broad black or dark brown bar across the teminal third, the tips being broadly rufous of a paler tint than at the base, the intermediate feathers grading gradually from the central to the outermost in coloration. Below, chin and centre of throat whitish, varying greatly in purity in different individuals; remainder of plumage below pale cinnamon- rufous, darkest on the upper-breast, flanks and under tail-coverts, and palest on the abdomen. The feathers of the breast are tipped with dull white, giving a mottled-white appearance to this part of the plumage, whilst the purple of the sides of the neck is sometimes extended so as to form a faint collar above the white mottling.

Colours of soft parts.   Legs and feet vary from brownish-pink or red, through a lake-brown to a dark purplish-brown;  bill pale horny-brown, sometimes suffused with pink, more especially at the base.   Irides pearl- white or grey, occasionally pinkish-white and sometimes grey with an inner ring of blue ; orbital skin and eyelids pale bluish.

Measurements.
Length 12 to 13 in. ( = 305 to 330 mm.); wing from 5.3 to 5.95 in. ( = 134.6 to 151.1 mm.) ; tail 6.3 to 7.0 in. ( = 160.0 to 177.8 mm.); bill at front, about .5 in. ( = 12.7 mm.), and from gape about .9 in. ( = 22.8 mm.); tarsus .75 in. ( = 19.0 mm.)." Weight 3.5 to 4 oz." (Davison).

Males not quite adult. The amount of rufous edging to the feathers of the wing and back is greater in extent, and a certain amount of black mottling shows on the breast; the dark barring on the neck and upper-back is more pronounced and the sheen less distinct.

Female. Differs from the male in being duller and darker above; the rufous of the head is well defined from the brown of the back and neck, and there is no purple tint or lilac sheen on these parts; below also the colours are generally darker and duller, and the motthngs on the breast caused by the black bases and edges of the feathers is very pronounced, this mottling often extending up on to the neck and even on to the sides of the throat. The feathers of the upper-back and neck are also minutely freckled with pale brown. Colours of soft parts.   As in the male.

Measurements.
I cannot see that the female is any smaller than the male, though it is generally credited with being so. The largest bird in the British Museum Collection is a female from Flores, with a wing 6.3 in. ( = 160 mm.), whilst the smallest is a bird of the same sex from Kina Balu, with a wing of only 5.15 in. ( = 130.8 mm.).

Young males are like the female, but with the black mottling on the breast still more extensive, and with the whole of the upper-parts barred with black and rufous ; the feathers of the rump are more vermiculated than barred and have rufous fringes to the longer feathers, whilst the upper tail- coverts are broadly edged with rufous.

As long ago as 1874 Hume (Stray Feathers, II p. 441) separated the Burmese form of ruficeps from the Javan bird, giving the former the name of assimilis, and very recently Streseman (Nov. Zool., XX p. 312) has again gone very carefully into the question of dividing ruficeps into local races. Hume divided his bird on account of three details in which, he said, the Burmese form differed from the southern : (1) Back of neck and interscapulary region dark brown, with scarcely any metallic gloss; (2) breast conspicuously mottled with dark brown; (3) chin and throat pale rufescent-white. As regards these differences—(1) is worthless, as the three most highly-glossed and palest- coloured birds I have ever seen are three fine males from Tenasserim ; (2) is only a question of age; (3) is partly a question of age and also partly a question of how a skin is made up. A series of skins, well made with the feathers lying flat, will show much whiter chins and throats, on an average, than will a series in which these parts are badly made. Also a series of very old birds will show up much whiter than a series of young. Now the skins Hume dealt with were Davison's well-made adult skins from Tenasserim, and a series not nearly so well made, and averaging much younger, from the Malay Peninsula and elsewhere, hence his third characteristic is also valueless. Streseman has divided this species into four subspecies : ruficeps ruficeps, ruficeps orientalis (Hartert), nana (Streseman), and assimilis (Hume). Streseman relies principally upon average measurements on which to base his subspecies, and to this adds : (1) amount of dark spotting on crop; (2) green reflection on nape-feathers ; (3) white tipping on feathers of breast.

All three of these characteristics are those of age alone, not of locality; and, age for age, I can see no difference in the races from any of the localities whence the bird is obtained, which would permit of their being separated into local subspecies. As I have already said, the series from Burma have a larger percentage of adult birds than the series from Malay, Borneo, Sumatra, and the other islands, and hence, as a series, show whiter throats (Streseman does not refer to this), breasts less marked with black and more with white, and comparatively a higher gloss on the nape, neck, and upper-back.

It is, however, on the variation in size principally that Streseman relies as a reason for separating the four forms he recognizes.   These are:—

Macropygia ruficeps ruficeps from Java, Bali, and Lombok, with an average wing-measurement of 144.5 mm. and extremes of variation in eight birds between 140-150 mm. Macropygia ruficeps nana from Borneo, Sumatra, and Malacca, with an average wing-measurement of 137.7 mm. and extremes of 127 and 148 mm. Macropygia ruficeps orientalis from Pantar, Flores, and Sumbawa to Lombok, with a wing averaging 157.0 mm. and ranging between extremes of 146 and 167 mm.; and finally—

Macropygia ruficeps assimilis from Burma, with an average wing of
146.6 mm. and extremes of 139 and 153 mm.
To some extent these figures are borne out by measurements taken by
myself, which read as follows :—
Java average
Sumatra ,,
Borneo ,,
Flores ,,
Malay ,,
Burma       „
wing
142.7
140.4
137.9
154.9
136.6
145.2
mm.
mm.
mm.
mm.
mm.
mm.
extremes
139.1
139.7
131.8
146.0
135.1
140.9
and
149.3
140.9
147.3
160.0
139.7
150.3
mm.
mm.
mm.
mm.
mm.
mm.
If we examine these figures carefully we find we have fairly well-defined groups—Java, Sumatra, etc., with a wing of about 140-142 mm., Borneo and Malay States with a wing of about 137 mm., and Burma with a wing of about 145 mm. Outside these three groups we have Flores, with a very big bird having a wing of 155 mm. But unfortunately the series from Borneo, chiefly from Mount Dulit and Kina Dalu, consists almost entirely of young birds, the same with those from the Malay States, whereas the Burmese series contains a high percentage of adult birds, and those few I have been able to examine from Flores are all adults. Thus it is more than possible that, though individuals from all localities vary very greatly in size, if there were equal series of adult specimens from each locality the differences would disappear.

The alleged differences in coloration, on the evidence obtainable, appear to be entirely due to age and sex, and in the absence of better proof of a definite difference in size, I must retain the Indian form under the original name of ruficeps; at the same time, it is more than probable that the bird from Pantar, Flores, and Sumbawa will turn out to be a good subspecies, greatly exceeding in size birds from other localities. Hartert (I.e.) separated the Sumbawa bird not only on account of its greater size, but by reason of its supposed darker, deeper rufous tail-coverts. The latter character, however, is only  individual, and some birds from Borneo, and others again from Burma, are as dark as those from Sumbawa, and throughout its area of habitation it will be found that young birds are darker on this part of their plumage than are adults.

Distribution.
Burma, throughout the Malay States, Siam, Borneo, Sumatra, and Java. Within  Indian limits it is found throughout Tenasserim in suitable localities, in southern Pegu, and at least as far north as Shandoung, about latitude 19°, in the Bre country, south of Karennee, where it was obtained by Messrs. S. M. Robinson and J. P. Cook. Davison also obtained it at Kolidoo, and Colonel (then Captain) Wardlaw Ramsay in the Karen Bulls, east of Tonghoo, whence also Mr. de Wet sent specimens to Oates.

Nidification.
The first record of this little Dove's breeding is that of Mr. S. M. Robinson in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. Whilst bird-nesting in Shandoung on April 19th, 1911, ho came across its nest, and thus records his find : " Higher up the hill, after the undergrowth had ceased, in bamboo jungle consisting of separate clumps of six, eight or ten bamboos and quite open, I saw a pad of moss where the bamboo shoots take off in a cluster. On going up, a long-tailed Dove flew off. I waited twenty-five minutes and shot it practically on the nest. This consisted of a flat pad of moss, almost quite hard, about 12 ft. up the bamboo. It was difficult to get the egg, as I expected it would roll off every minute as we telescoped the bamboo. "The egg measured 1.26 by .84 in., a perfect ellipse, and cream tinted with very faint coffee-colour."

On April 25th of the same year and at the same place Mr. J. P. Cook found a second nest containing one hard-set egg. The nest, like the last, was placed high, up in a single bamboo, but unlike that taken by Mr. Robinson, was of the usual type and " composed of a very scanty collection of twigs." The egg unfortunately got broken in getting it down from tho nest. I have had several eggs sent me by Mr. W. A. T. Kellow taken in the hills near Perak and also by my collectors in Tenasserim.

The nests are described as the usual Dove's nests of sticks, but often with a base of moss and sometimes composed almost enthely of this material. Generally they are placed on bamboos, either singly or in clumps, at anything from six to fifteen feet from the ground, but a few nests were taken from small saplings or high bushes, and in these latter cases no moss was ever used in their construction.

The breeding-soason seems to be an early one. In the extreme north of their range in the Karen Hills they lay, as we have seen, in April. Further south, my men took their eggs in February and March, and in Perak and the surrounding country they appear to lay in January and February, whilst some eggs I have received from Borneo have also been taken in February. On the other hand, eggs I purchased from the Waterstradt Collection, also taken in North Borneo, were all laid in July, and I have also one or two eggs from Perak laid in May, so it seems probable that thoy have two broods in the year. They lay cither one or two eggs, generally I believe the former, but my North Bornean eggs are all in pahs, and I have likewise had pairs from the Malay States and Tenasserim.

The eggs in my collection vary very groatly in size, the biggest, possibly an abnormal egg, measuring 1.32 by .90 in. ( = 33.5 by 22.8 mm.), and the smallest 1.10 by .80 in. ( = 27.9 by 20.3 mm.), whilst the average of sixteen eggs is 1.17 by .83 in. ( = 29.7 by 21 mm.). 

They are in appearance very much like big eggs of the Emerald Ground- Dove, but average longer and narrower in proportion and are also a somewhat paler cream or cafe-au-lait. In fact, they are miniatures of the eggs of Macropygia tusalia, and like them are of two types and sizes, the single eggs being bigger than those laid in pairs, and also, as a rule, less true ellipses.

The Little Malay Cuckoo-Dove is a bird of high elevations and seems never, even during the cold weather, to descend to the level of the plains, or, indeed, much below 2,000 ft. Robinson and Cook found it at about and over 4,000 ft., and my men reported it as very rare below this height.

Hume states that in the Karen Hills about 3,000 ft. is its normal altitude. There is practically nothing on record about this little bird beyond what is noted by Davison, in Stray Feathers, to the following effect " This bird is not very rare, but is still most difficult to obtain. It is extremely shy, and keeps to the densest parts of the forests; on Mooleyet in the mornings and evenings I used to hear numbers calling. The note is very peculiar, and sounds like Oo-who-who-oo, repeated quickly several times. The birds keep in small parties of four or six. They live on small fruits, and the stomachs of some I examined contained what looked to me like birds or tender undeveloped leaves."