TURTUE. 353 



some low tree or bush or in a cactus-hedge, and consists o£ a very 

 scanty allowance of dead sticks scarcely sufficient to support the 

 eggs, which are invariably visible through the bottom of the nest. 

 I have never found more than two eggs in one nest. I found two 

 nests in Deesa on the 23rd of May containing incubated eggs in a 

 very curious situation. A net about two feet \\ide liad been hung 

 round the inside of a verandah to prevent bats from entering the 

 roof; upon this net the two nests were built about two yards 

 apart, and when disturbed the old birds had to flutter along the 

 net for 9 or 10 yards before they could ujake their escape. I 

 think August and September are the principal months in which 

 they lay." 



Mr. Benjamin Aitken sends me the following note :— " Jerdon 

 says that the species of the Pigeon family never lay more than two 

 eggs. _ Now I have twice, in Berar, had\a Dove's nest brought to 

 me with three eggs, and by no cross-questioning could I shake the 

 natives who brought them in their declaration that the three eggs 

 were found, each time, in the same nest. 



"I once found a nest of T. sener/alensis in a most unusual 

 situation. It was on the ground, at the top of a ditch, in a plain 

 covered with short grass, either spear-grass or some very fine sort 

 like spear-grass. Not a stick or straw had been carried to the 

 spot, but the grass as it grew had been worked into a very neat 

 nest. The parent-bird was constantly about the nest, or sitting in 

 it ; but just as I was expecting an egg the little structure was 

 destroyed, either by men or cattle. This was in Berar about the 

 middle of November." 



These eggs are, as usual, pure white and commonly very glossy. 

 They vary comparatively little in shape, though a good deal in size, 

 and are typically rather broad, nearly perfect ovals. Although in 

 all this family the size of the egg varies greatly, those of this 

 species are, as a body, smaller than those of T. jndcJimla, Chaho- 

 phajjs indim, and T. suratensis, but about the same size as those of 

 T. tranqueharicus. They are a very pure \\liite, seldom, if ever, 

 exhibiting that creamy tinge typical in T. tranquebarims and not 

 uncommon in T. risoriics. 



In length the eggs vary from 0-88 to 1-18, and in breadth from 

 0-75 to 0-9 ; but the average of forty eggs is 1-01 barely by 

 0'86 full. 



Turtur suratensis (Grm.). The Sljwtted Dove. 



Tuvtur surateusis (Gm.), Jenl. B. lad. ii, p. 479; Hume, Romih 

 Draft N. i^- E. no. 795. f ' . ./ 



The Spotted Dove breeds almost throughout the more humid 

 and better-wooded portions of India, ahke in the plains and in the 

 hills up to elevations of 5000 or 6000 feet. It eschews, as a rule, 

 those provinces and districts where the rainfall is scanty, and in 

 Upper India chiefly aifects the sub-montane districts, whence, as 

 summer approaches, many migrate to the lower forest-clad hills 



VOL. II. 23 



