58 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



" In the South of Ceylon I foujid they fed much on wild dates ; 

 an example I shot near GaUe had its crops almost extended to bursting 

 with the fruit. They are fond of frequenting hedges of fruit-bearing 

 trees on open land, and I have often seen them frequenting rows of 

 the common ' Cadaru ' tree, although there can be nothing, of course, 

 in the large nauseous fruit of that tree to tempt them." 



Layard says that vast numbers are kiUed in the southern and 

 western Provinces, as these birds swarm to the tree for the time being 

 in fruit. They appear, according to him, to be always shot in the 

 trees rather than in the more sporting manner carried out in Assam 

 and India where, as already naiTated, a perching bird is practically 

 never shot, aU being killed as they flight to and from their feeding- 

 places. How numerous they are may be reahzed from what Layard 

 says of his own shooting — when firing at one bird in the tree he 

 " brought down seven or eight others which he could not see." 



