NICOBAR PIGEON 117 



of me, they were soon joined by others, till there must have been at least 

 thirty, old and young, all round me. I remained perfectly stUl (hardly 

 daring to breathe) and watched them for some time. 



" Their gait is quite Pigeon-like. Every now and then one would 

 stop, and tossing the leaves aside, dig into the ground with its bUl. They 

 did not move in any regular manner but walked hither and thither, and 

 if two adults, or two young ones met thej^ generally made a peck or two 

 at one another before separating. I did not observe them use their 

 feet to scratch aside the leaves, like gallinaceous birds, nor did I see 

 any of the adults run, they kept up a steady but sprightly walk the 

 whole time. Occasionally one would rush up with wide spread wings to 

 one of its neighbours, and then stand with open mouth flapping its 

 wing until it was either beaten off, or the other beat a retreat ; but I did 

 not see any of the young fed by their parents. They are very silent 

 birds, and the only note I heard was a somewhat hoarse, guttiu-al kind 

 of croak, not unlike that sometimes made by the domestic Pigeon when 

 taken in the hand. 



" The stomachs of those I shot on Katchall contained seeds very 

 similar to a prune stone, more or less broken up, but on Battye Malve 

 they seem to have eaten a whitish seed about the size of the head of a 

 blanket-pin. The gizzard of this bird is very pecuUar, being composed 

 of two discs of cartilage as hard as, and of the same texture as bone, 

 shghtly convex on the inner surface, between which is a pebble, usually a 

 white quartz a little larger than a fresh pea. 



" Many of these birds are caught on the western coast of NancowTy 

 and Camorta with horse-hair nooses placed on the ground in places they 

 frequent, the bait used being wild fruits. They sell at Camorta for three 

 rupees or six shillings per pair, and a good many find their way to 

 Calcutta." 



Butler adds a good deal of interesting matter to these notes in his 

 article in the Bombay Journal (I.e.), where he writes : " I found it very 

 shy and difficult to shoot. It is quite silent so that you have no means of 

 knowing its whereabouts ; creeping through the jungle you are startled 

 by a tremendous flutter of wings overhead, and get just a ghmpse of a 

 large dark bird with a short white tail disappearing on the wrong side 

 of at least two trees. You may have time to get in the snappiest of snap 

 shots, and it may be effective ; mine generally were not, though occasion- 

 ally the report wotild be followed by a cheery thud. Fortunately one 



