182 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 
on the other hand there is no green on the forehead 
and root of the tail, the head and tail being all grey. 
Where the two kinds meet they appear to interbreed 
freely, as any number of intermediate specimens 
occur ; and as the extreme forms only differ in the points 
of colour I have mentioned, they can perhaps better be 
called local varieties than really distinct species. 
These Green Pigeons are sociable birds, being generally 
seen in flocks; they feed only on fruit which is small 
enough to swallow whole, such as banyan figs, and so. 
are not destructive in gardens like most  fruit-eating 
birds. Although not rare, they easily escape notice, 
as their plumage matches the foliage of trees so beautifully 
that they are almost impossible to see. They very 
seldom come to the ground ; indeed, there is a native 
story that the Hurrial is so proud of never treading the 
vulgar earth that it carries a twig in its feet when it 
comes down to drink! If it is really proud, it certainly 
must be ashamed of its appearance on the ground, where 
it walks awkwardly like a Parrot, not with the dainty 
tripping gait of ordinary Pigeons. Among the branches, 
however, it moves gracefully and easily, and is so strong 
in the feet that it can reach over till its head is pointed 
perpendicularly downwards when it desires to pick a 
fruit below its perch. Hurrials build scanty open nests 
like ordinary Pigeons, and lay the two usual white 
eggs. In courting, they do not make so much fuss as 
Pigeons in general, merely stooping, expanding their tail 
and moving it up and down. Their note is not in the, 
least likeacoo, being a modulated whistle, and they 
