WESTER SPOTTED DOVE

Description:

Hitherto treated as race of S. chinensis, but indicated as a likely separate species and differs in its reddish to red iris and red eyering vs yellow to orange iris and narrow grey or blue-grey eyering (3); plumage pattern of upperparts greatly emphasizes buff tips vs dark central bars to feathers, thus appearing predominantly pale-spotted vs dark-spotted (2); song typically (and perhaps always) more protracted owing to repetition of main stressed note vsno such repetition (2); size generally smaller, albeit larger in north of range (informally 1); zone of intergradation in “Cachar, Manipur, etc.” (assumed to be wide: 1). Birds of Sri Lanka sometimes separated as race ceylonensis based on smaller size; in past, those of NE Assam separated as edwardi. Monotypic. Its distribution extend to Pakistan, Nepal and India South to Sri Lanka, and E to Bhutan and Assam.

Habitat:

Prefers more mesophytic situations than S. senegalensis, frequenting moist deciduous. A ground feeder on grain and other seeds, occasionally berries