42 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



in the Island. It is a shy bird and difficult to kiU, except when feeding ; 

 it may then be easily shot out of large forest trees, providec^ the sports- 

 man be concealed, as it feeds so greedily that many do not take flight 

 on the discharge of a gun. They coUect in groups of a dozen or more, 

 in the early morning or after feeding, and sit motionless on the tops 

 of trees. On being alarmed one or two dart off, and are foUowed by 

 their companions, one after another, tiU the whole have taken flight. 

 They are very strong on the wing, and fly with a steady straight course. 

 Their note is a melodious, soft, modulated whistle, which can be precisely 

 imitated, and by doing which many are enticed by ' Eurasians ' in 

 the North of Ceylon, into uttering it, and are thus more easily descried 

 in the green foliage and then shot. There is something peculiarly 

 charming in their himian-ILke notes when heard in the tops of lofty 

 trees, overshadowing the mighty bunds by wliich the ancient Kings 

 of Ceylon dammed up vaUeys, and skiUuUy formed vast reservoirs 

 for the support of their subjects in the wild forests of the Vanni. In 

 the Wellaway Korale, where the Pigeon is abundant, I have seen, 

 as in the case of the two preceding species, large flocks in scattered 

 company returning in the evening from their feeding ground, or from 

 the widely dispersed waterholes of that district, and by remaining in 

 wait for them in the same position I have had excellent shooting. Both 

 this, and the Orange-breasted Pigeon, however, are very strong birds, 

 and take more killing to bring them down, especially when perched, 

 than almost any bird of the same size in Ceylon." 



