i65 



It is some years since I have been stationed at a place 

 where Spotted Doves are common, and I cannot remember a 

 case of one of these birds nesting in my verandah, but Mr. R. 

 Thompson says of this species: " In their selection of sites for 

 their nests these birds show very little intelligence, suiting them- 

 selves to the first place they find handy, often amongst old fur- 

 niture in the verandah of a house, cornices of old buildings, 

 low hedges and bushes, or even the lopped trunk of a tree, if a 

 flat surface is left sufficient to place the nest on, and often in the 

 most exposed situations, where the wretched birds are sure to 

 pa}' the penalty of their imprudence.'' Seeing that the nest is 

 almost invariably placed in open situations, one would naturally 

 expect that the eggs would be coloured so as to be difficult to 

 see ; but the}' are pure white and so visible from afar. The 

 result is that many are destroyed by Treepies, Crows, and other 

 egg-sucking birds, but the pugnacity of the dove preserves many 

 a clutch that would otherwise be destroyed. This, together with 

 the large number of broods raised up in the year, accounts for 

 the abundance of doves. It is to be remarked that there are but 

 two eggs in the normal clutch. The smallness of the clutch is 

 probably necessitated by the method of feeding the young when 

 first hatched, that is to say by a secretion from the crop of the 

 parent. 



In oider to give some idea of the abundance of doves in 

 India, I may say that on one morning in April, as the result of a 

 search lasting a couple of hours, among the trees growing on a 

 canal bank, I came across no fewer than eighteen doves' nest, 

 mostly those of Turtur risorius. In the course of a short rail- 

 way journey one sees thousands of these birds sunning them- 

 selves on telegraph wires. 



The habits of doves are not particularly interesting, at 

 least to the field naturalist. Their plaintive " coo " grows ex- 

 ceedingly monotonous. It seems to lack expression and gives 

 one the idea of being as mechanical as the discourse of a pro- 

 fessional guide. There is, however, one pretty habit which doves 

 have. In the early morning they are fond of flying up into the 

 air for a distance of ten or fifteen yards, and then letting them- 

 selves drop with wings and tail expanded. I am inclined to 



