TURTUE. 361 



pended by only a few cross-threads. I got a high pair of platform 

 steps, used here by uiasous wheu whitewashing ceilings, Avith us a 

 very common operation, and mounted to the nest. It was a tiny 

 network of grass-stems so slightly put together that, as I mentioned 

 above, the eggs were clearly visible from below. How eggs could 

 be hatched in such a situation 1 am at a loss to understand. The 

 slightest storm, and we have had several such lately, would, I 

 should have fancied, fling tlie eggs far away ; but tliere they were, 

 fresh and unsulhed. They were considerably smaller than those 

 of our other common Doves, and distinguishable bv a very faint 

 creamy tinge, scarcely noticeable except by contrast ^ith those of 

 the other species. Taken alone, you would say they were pure 

 white ; placed beside the others, you would instantly notice in 

 them a very faint ivory-like tint altogether wanting in the rest." 



According to Mr. Hodgson, this species lives and breeds in the 

 lower valleys and the 8al forests of Nepal, and lays from January 

 to May two or three white eggs. I myself never saw or heard of 

 more than two eggs being found in any nest. 



Lieut. H. E. Barnes, referring to Eajpootaua in general, says : — 

 " I only found nests of the Ruddy Eing-Dove in November, so 

 that its breeding-season seems much more restricted than is 

 generally the case with Doves."' 



Colonel Butler writes from Deesa : — " I found a nest of the 

 Euddy Dove at Deesa on the 8th July, 1875. It contained one 

 fresh egg. The nest was in an acacia-tree, about 10 feet from the 

 ground, and consisted of as few sticks as safety would permit of 

 for the support of the eggs. Two other nests, each containing 

 fresh eggs, were in the same tree, only a few feet from the Dove's 

 nest, one of Lan'ms er>/t7iro)ioti(s, the other of Dicru>'ns ater. I 

 found two nests near the same place containing fresh eggs on the 

 16th August, and many others during the remainder of the month ; 

 several nests in the same locality in March, April, and May. A 

 nest, 10th Jane, two fresh eggs ; two nests on the 6th June, one 

 containing three eggs. Nests very common from the middle of 

 August to the end of September." 



And subsequently from 8ind : — " Arrives in large numbers in 

 the neighbourhood of Hydrabad, 8ind, about the end of April, 

 and in the month of June I noticed nests innumerable on the 

 babool trees below the camp. On several occasions I have seen 

 three eggs in a nest, and once or twice three young birds." 



Writing of the Deccan, Messrs. Davidson and Wenden say : — 

 " Common and breeds." 



Mr. J. R. Cripps tells us that in Furreedpore in Eastern Bengal 

 this Dove is " far from common ; frequents woods more than 

 either of the other two preceding species, 1 have seen them all 

 the year round, but only in pairs. On the 10th June, 1878, I 

 saw a nest in course of construction ; it was built in the centre of 

 a clump of bamboos near a ryot's house, and about 10 feet off the 

 ground ; the birds deserted it eventually." 



The eggs (as a body, the smallest of all our Do^'es' eggs, except 



