Indian Doves. 29 



by-side, in others three; in a few parts only one kind of dove 

 occurs. In tlie United Provinces,all four species are found, the 

 spotted species being" tlie commonest at Shahjahanpur. Bareilly, 

 Pilibhit, Basti, Lucknow, ("rhazipur and in the Nepal Terai, 

 Eastern Bengal and the Konkan. It is the only dove seen at 

 Calcutta and on the West Coast south of Bombay. At Lahore 

 and in the Deccan the spotted dove is never seen, the other 

 three species only being found there. 



At Pusa the three doves are the ring, the spotted and 

 the red turtle-dove. On the island of Bombay the little brown 

 species is the only dove. It is usually said that the ring-dove 

 prefers dry localities, and the spotted, well-wooded ones. This 

 i*? on the whole correct, but the theory is si)oiled by the fact 

 that the ring-dove is abundant during summer in the moist, 

 well-wooded vale of Kashmir. 



ANOTHER PUZZLE. 



Even more of a puzzle is the distribution of the red turtle- 

 dove. It is abundant in Sind and the Punjab in the hot months, 

 but not in the cold. " It is," writes Hume. " very common in 

 the bare, arid, treeless region that surrounds the Sambhar Lake. 

 P is common in some dry well-cultivated districts like Etawah, 

 where there are plenty of old mango groves. It is very 



common in some of the comparatively humid tracts, like 

 Bareilly, and again in the sal jungles of the Kumaun-Bhabar 

 and the Nepal Terai. On the other hand, over wide extents 

 o: similar country it is rarely seen. Doubtless there is 

 something in its food or mode of life that limits its distribution, 

 but I have never yet been able to make out what this something" 

 is." The habits of all four species of dove appear to be the 

 same. They feed exclusively on seeds which they pick up off 

 the ground. They are equally partial to the seeds of weeds, 

 garden plants and cultivated crops. All build nests of the 

 flimsiest type — mere platforms, so thin that the white eggs often 

 show through from below. The nest is usually situated in a 

 bush, hedge or tree, a thorny one by preference. Sometimes it 

 is placed on or even inside a building; on rare occasions it is 

 situated in a hole in a tree or on the ground. It is usually 

 placed in an exposed situation, as though the owners courted 

 notice. Doves, however, fight boldly when their nests are 



