42 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 
in the Island. It is ashy bird and difficult to kill, except when feeding ; 
it may then be easily shot out of large forest trees, provided the sports- 
man be concealed, as it feeds so greedily that many do not take flight 
on the discharge of a gun. They collect in groups of a dozen or more, 
in the early morning or after feeding, and sit motionless on the tops 
of trees. On being alarmed one or two dart off, and are followed by 
their companions, one after another, till the whole have taken flight. 
They are very strong on the wing, and fly with a steady straight course. 
Their note is a melodious, soft, modulated whistle, which can be precisely 
imitated, and by doing which many are enticed by ‘ Eurasians’ in 
the North of Ceylon, into uttering it, and are thus more easily descried 
in the green foliage and then shot. There is something peculiarly 
charming in their human-like notes when heard in the tops of lofty 
trees, overshadowing the mighty bunds by which the ancient Kings 
of Ceylon dammed up valleys, and skilfully formed vast reservoirs 
for the support of their subjects in the wild forests of the Vanni. In 
the Wellaway Korale, where the Pigeon is abundant, I have seen, 
as in the case of the two preceding species, large flocks in scattered 
company returning in the evening from their feeding ground, or from 
the widely dispersed waterholes of that district, and by remaining in 
wait for them in the same position I have had excellent shooting. Both 
this, and the Orange-breasted Pigeon, however, are very strong birds, 
and take more killing to bring them down, especially when perched, 
than almost any bird of the same size in Ceylon.” 
