102 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 
collecting in very large numbers in forest-trees when they were fruiting, 
and I have seen literally hundreds collected on a single pepul tree, feeding 
on the berries which were just ripe. On another occasion, also, when 
shooting in a forest in the Mahor Valley, at an elevation of some 1,000 ft., 
I was attracted to some jaman, or wild-plum, trees by the continuous loud 
and very deep call of ‘“‘ wuck-wurrr ” made by these Pigeons, and when 
I went close up, I could see these birds moving about all over the higher 
branches, feeding greedily on the ripe plums. As it was impossible to 
shoot them on the wing owing to the very dense forest all round, I con- 
tented myself with watching their movements, which were most interest- 
ing. They were not half so clever with their feet as the Green Pigeon are, 
and often after clambering up or down a branch to get to some choice 
morsel would, in craning over to catch hold of it, lose their balance, and 
to save themselves take to wing. Once overbalanced they did not seem 
able to pull themselves up again, yet their feet and legs must be pretty 
powerful, for when’shot and not killed outright they will often hang, head 
downwards, clinging on to a branch until a second shot dislodges them. 
They do not appear to be very quarrelsome birds, though a certain 
amount of squabbling and sparring goes on from time to time. On the 
occasion above referred to I was watching the birds for fully two hours, 
but I saw no actual fights, though now and then one bird would try to 
push another away from a bunch of plums. 
A very noticeable thing about them was the fact that they constantly 
uttered their very deep note during the time they were feeding, whilst 
their cousin, the Green Imperial Pigeon, is a very silent bird when so 
employed. ‘The birds in this tree seemed very tame, perhaps because of 
the extreme denseness of the foliage and because I was so completely 
screened by the undergrowth, but even when I shot a couple of birds for 
the pot the majority of the others, numbering some two or three hundred, 
just flew round a few times and again settled to their feast. As a rule I 
think they are rather shy birds, and are difficult to get near if the trees 
they are in are not dense enough to hide them effectually. 
It has only once fallen to my lot to make a respectable bag of these 
fine Pigeons. On this particular occasion I was lucky enough to come 
across a gigantic pepul tree standing in bamboo-jungle which had seeded 
and was therefore very thin and bare. Consequently the tree stood well 
in view, and by selecting a comparatively bare place amongst the bamboo- 
clumps which was well under their line of flight, I enjoyed a couple of 
