BENGAL GREEN PIGEON 15 



over to bend do^vn and drink. It is not correct, however, to say that 

 they never descend to the groimd to drink, as I have myself seen them 

 thus drinking, and have shot them as they rose. At the same time 

 I have also often seen them drinking by climbing down overhanging 

 canes and bushes until they were near enough to reach the water, and 

 this latter manner of drinking is, perhaps, that most often resorted to. 

 An interesting experiment with my cage-birds seemed to prove that 

 the birds preferred drinking thus, and did not do so merely because 

 there was no bare ground near to the water convenient to drink from. 

 The birds referred to were suppHed with wide shallow pans from which 

 to drink, and when split bamboos, with one end resting in the water 

 and the other slanting up to the perches, were placed in the aviary, 

 it was found that more birds crept down the bamboos to drink than 

 came right down on to the ground for this purpose. 



The belief of the hill-tribes in north-eastern India, which has been 

 above referred to, is curiously supplemented by Cripp's note in the 

 seventh voliune of Stray Feathers, where he -mites that the natives of 

 Furredpore in eastern Bengal " say that whenever this bird descends 

 to the water's edge for a drink it holds a twig in its claws ; it prides 

 itself on Hving altogether on trees, and in order that it may not be 

 accused of perching on the ground when it descends to drink, brings 

 down with it a twig to stand on." 



They are greatly prized as cage-birds in India, being regularly 

 exposed for sale in the Chiretta Bazaar in Calcutta ; but though they 

 whistle freely in captivity, and are not difficult to keep, they soon get 

 rather dishevelled in appearance, especially when, as is generally the 

 case, they are confined in bamboo cages so small that their tails 

 constantly rub against the bars, and get very frayed and dirty. 

 Captive birds are fed principally on plantains and suttoo, a mixture 

 of meal and water, but a native bird-fancier told me that he had 

 to vary this diet with dry grain and boiled rice, and also that he gave 

 his birds practically any fruit which happened to be in season. Of 

 fruit, however, the favourite seemed to be the jamans — a kind of wild 

 plum — the fruit of the ber tree, and any kind of fig, such as pepul, 

 banyan, etc. 



I never heard of anyone succeeding in getting them to breed in 

 an aviary, or even to nest, though, as in my own case, they always 

 grew very quarrelsome in the breeding-season, and would often spend 



