96 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 
all sides, until the branches are literally laden with them. In Suffragam 
I found them feeding on the wild Cinnamon fruit, and also on wild 
nutmegs which their enormous gape enables them to swallow with ease. 
The nutmeg is, of course, as in the case of the Myna, voided after the 
mace has been digested.” 
It is credited with being a regular drinker. As already quoted, 
Legge infers that it drinks regularly in the morning, and Jerdon also says 
that “‘ like the Green Pigeons, it betakes itself to river banks to drink, 
about 8 or 9 a.m. and again, I believe, in the afternoon.” Blanford also 
says that it drinks morning and afternoon, and that he has seen it drinking 
at the latter hour. I have myself, more than once, put them up from 
sand-banks on river-sides where they were drinking, and on one occasion 
watched a pair for some minutes as they were drinking from a forest- 
stream in the early morning. These two birds moved about quite freely 
on the flat, sandy bank, walking much like the birds of the genus Columba, 
but not so fast. Every now and then they returned to the water’s edge, 
and thrusting their bills deep in, after the manner of all Doves and 
Pigeons, took long draughts of water. 
They are occasionally caged by the natives of India, and I have seen 
one or two birds in captivity ; but they are uninteresting pets when kept 
in small cages, for they become very lethargic and slow in their movements, 
and in their intense greediness make themselves in a terrible state when 
gorging on plantains, or swttoo, a kind of porridge which forms their 
principal article of diet when caged. Nor have they the beautiful 
whistling-notes of the Green Pigeon, their note being a very deep guttural 
“coo” of the same character as that of the Wood-Pigeon, but very deep, 
and consisting of two notes well syllabified as “ wuck-woor,” the second 
syllable the deeper and prolonged with a rolling sound. Jerdon de- 
scribes its call asa “low, deep, plaintive moan.” Tichell as ‘deep and ven- 
triloquous,” and another writer as not unlike the croaking of a bull-frog. 
If kept in a big aviary it might possibly form a more interesting pet 
to keep than it does when in a small cage, for, undoubtedly, it is a very 
handsome bird, and as it is not quarrelsome, it could be kept in the same 
aviary with other birds. 
It is an excellent bird for the table, though it varies a good deal in 
flavour according to what it has been feeding on. It should always be 
skinned, not only plucked, prior to cooking, as the skin is often loaded 
with a dense coating of yellow fat, not always pleasant to the taste. 
