Japanese wood pigeon - Karasubato (English spelling)

Japanese: カラスバト(烏鳩) - カラスバト（英語表記）Japanese wood pigeon

A bird of the family Columbiformes. Total length is about 40 cm. It is the largest of the pigeons in Japan. It is generally a dull black color, with a purple or green metallic sheen on the head, neck, back, and chest. Its beak is blackish, and its legs are dark red. It is endemic to Japan, and is found from Honshu to the Sakishima Islands of Okinawa and the Ogasawara Islands. However, it has been recorded occasionally from the east coast of Korea. It inhabits dense forests of evergreen broad-leaved trees such as chinquapin, thunbergia, oak, and camellia. As evergreen broad-leaved forests have decreased, this bird has decreased significantly, and it has almost disappeared from the main islands of Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, and is now limited to remote islands where forests remain.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

ハト目ハト科の鳥。全長約40cm。日本のハト類の中では最大。全体にくすんだ黒色で，頭頸（とうけい）部，背，胸などには紫や緑の金属光沢がある。くちばしは黒っぽく，脚は暗赤色。日本特産種で，本州から沖縄の先島諸島までと小笠原諸島に分布する。ただし，韓国の東海岸からまれに記録がある。シイ，タブノキ，カシ，ツバキなど常緑広葉樹のよく茂った林に生息する。したがって，常緑広葉樹林の減少に伴い，この鳥は著しく減少し，本州，四国，九州の本土からはほとんどいなくなり，林の残っている離島に限られてしまっている。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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