er Ee eS 
PINK-NECKED GREEN PIGEON 63 
I have seen parties bring in over two hundred birds. Our luck was 
out, however, on this occasion for it afterwards transpired that another 
party had, unknown to us, visited this same spot a couple of days 
before; the result was that instead of approaching the island fairly 
low over the water the Pigeons flew high up, mostly out of range, till 
exactly over the trees, when they seemed to close their wings and dive 
headlong into the trees. On reading this some may ask why we did 
not land and stand under the trees or in a clearing? The obvious 
retort would be that such people had never seen a mangrove swamp 
at close quarters—there is not an inch of dry land, nothing but slimy 
mud of unknown depth, and a tangled mass of roots which nothing 
but a snake or mongoose could get through! By this time it was 
getting dusk, and the flight ceased as abruptly as it had begun, and as 
we could not induce any Pigeons to come out and fly around (no amount 
of shooting or firing into the air will make them quit the trees) we 
picked up the slain—only some two dozen—and made for the launch 
where baths, dinner, pipes and beds awaited us.” 
Davison says that they have “a soft, low whistle, ending in a 
sort of ‘ coo,’ very unlike that of O. chloroptera, malabarica, etc.” And 
again he says that its note is much like that of T'reron nepalensis, though 
much softer, and he adds that in habits also it closely resembles that 
bird. 
