PIN-TAILED GREEN PIGEON 75 



Nidification. The breeding-season of this Fruit-Pigeon begins early in 

 the lower elevations of its habitat, but not until Aj)ril at all heights from 

 2,500 ft. upwards. They continue to breed throughout April, May, and to some 

 extent in June, whilst many birds have second broods in July and August. 

 Like all the members of this family, however, their breeding-season is a very 

 lengthy and very irregular one, and there is practically no month in the year 

 in which one may not come across their nests containing both eggs and young 

 of all ages. They breed most commonly between 2,000 and 3,000 ft., but 

 Dr. A. N. Coltart took numerous nests in the plains of Dibrugarh, and I have 

 also taken nests in the foot-hills of Cachar and Sylhet. On the other hand 

 it certainly breeds as high as 6,000 ft., and possibly still liigher in Nepal 

 and Sikhim. 



During the breeding-season the male bird indulges in the usual 

 demonstrations of love performed by all Green Pigeons, including the general 

 puffing out of the feathers, drooping of the ^\•ings, and constant bo\\'ings and 

 bobbings. As usual, also, the interest of the female m such displays is of the 

 slightest, though occasionally she too indulges in a minor display of 

 pirouettes. 



The nest is the normal platform of small t\dgs, and these may be either 

 dry or green and torn from the tree by the birds themselves. Roughly 

 speakmg the nest may be anything from 5 to 8 in. in diameter and from one- 

 half to 2 in. deep, according to its situation ; the depression, if any, is very 

 slight, and the eggs are often prevented from rollmg out only by the projections 

 of the interlacing twigs. They do not take long to construct, although the 

 work of building is only carried out in the cool of the morning and evening, 

 and whilst some nests are completed in three or four days, most take about a 

 week. Incubation lasts about fifteen or sixteen days, and both birds take 

 part in this labour, the cock also taking upon himself to feed the hen-bird 

 whilst she sits. 



The nest is nearly always placed upon a number of twigs or small branches 

 of a sapling, generally between ten and fifteen feet above the ground, but 

 I have also taken it from thick bushes at anything between five and twelve feet, 

 and less often from large boughs of forest-trees. Bamboo-clumps, which 

 form such favourite nesting-sites for many Green Pigeons, are very seldom 

 made use of by this species, and I have never seen their nests placed in 

 cane-brakes. 



As a rule, the kind of country selected for nesting purposes is evergreen- 

 forest, a tree being chosen either on the outskirts of this, or else in an opening 

 near a stream, a patch of cultivation, or some natural glade of grass and fern. 



The eggs are, as usual, two in number, pure white and elliptical m shape, 

 though often one, and sometimes both ends are somewhat pointed. The 

 texture is the same as that of the eggs of the genus Osmotreron, perhaps a 

 trifle more coarse and porous, as they seem to get discoloured and stained 

 more easily. 



The average of one hundred eggs is 1.25 by .98 in. ( = 31.7 by 24.8 mm.) 

 and they vary in length between 1.09 and 1.37 ( = 27.6 and 35 mm.) and 

 in breadth between .87 and 1.03 ( = 22.1 and 26.1 mm.). 



The Pin-tailed Green Pigeon is essentially a bird of the hills and 

 mountains, ascending them throughout its range to over 6,000 ft., 

 and being more common above 2,000 ft. than below this height. At 

 the same time it is also found quite down into the plains near the hills, 



