170 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



Nidification. There is not much on record about the breeding of this 

 fine Wood-Pigeon. Kelaart records that : " It comes to Newera Eliya to 

 breed and I have seen a nest with only one egg as large as that of the 

 domestic Pigeon." 



Legge never found the nest himself, but Bligh wrote him : " I have seen 

 their nests both in Spring and Autumn as late as October ; they generally 

 buUd in lofty forest trees, but I once frightened a large young one from a 

 nest on a small tree some 15 ft. above the ground." Butler says, in reference 

 to the Ceylon Wood-Pigeon breeding : " I have one egg, taken by my brother, 

 Mr. C. E. Butler, in Uda Pusselawa, on November 11th, 1894. He described 

 the nest as placed in a small tree in jungle about 25 ft. from the ground. The 

 egg is similar to, but smaller than, an English Wood-Pigeon's, 1 J in. by 1 J in. 

 At the present minute I know of a nest being built near here (September 24th). 

 I believe it lays only one egg, as the one my brother took was hard set, and 

 Mr. Bligh mentions frightening a single young one from a nest ; but Natives 

 tell me it lays two eggs." 



Beyond Legge's notes there is practically nothing on record about 

 the habits of this fine Pigeon, and I must therefore again indent upon 

 him. In his Birds of Ceylon, he \vrites : " Frequenting, for the most 

 part, lofty trees in the primeval forest of the mountains, and being of 

 a very shy and wary disposition, this fine Pigeon is generally a diflScult 

 bird to procure ; but notwithstanding, it is much sought after on accomit 

 of its excellent flesh, and frequently falls to the planter's gun. It is 

 entirely a fruit-eating species, and feeds more on the wild cinnamon 

 fruit than any other kind ; on this it gorges itself to such an extent that 

 I have found its crop burst wide open with the shock of falling to the 

 ground. When thus satiated, it is not so watchful as usual, and may 

 sometimes be approached without the crackling of a twig or the noise 

 of leaves crushed underfoot frightening it off. It comes very early 

 to roost ; and I found that it resorted to the same tree night after night, 

 coming home from its forest wanderings about 4 p.m., and settling 

 down either in or somewhere near its intended roosting-place. It 

 then commences its ' coo ' (which is a fine deep note, but not so guttiural 

 or resounding as that of the Imperial Pigeon), and now and then moving 

 about in the adjacent trees, but not flying away to any distance. 



' ' By waiting in such places it may be more easily shot than in any 

 other manner. About 10 o'clock in the mornmg after feeding, I have 

 found it resting on the under branches of moderately sized trees in the 

 Newara Eliya District ; but as a rule it selected the loftiest branches 

 to perch on. Its flight is very strong and swift, and it takes a good 

 shot to bring it down as it darts out of some loftj^ tree m its forest 

 haunts ; Kelaart says that ' it flies high and in long sweeps.' In common 

 Avith other Pigeons, it drinks in the morning, and I have found it in 



