Br Set 
GREY-HEADED IMPERIAL PIGEON 105 
Davison was the first to obtain its nest which he took in Tenasserim. 
He writes: “While ascending the North West slope of Muleyet on the 
27th January I flushed a Pigeon (which I shot) off her nest in a small sapling 
growing close to the path, but in very heavy virgin forest. The nest was 
the usual Pigeon type of nest, a mere apology, of a few dry twigs loosely put 
together. There was only one egg fresh, but the female, on dissection, showed 
no signs of being about to lay another, so it is probable that one egg only is 
laid by this species. The egg is, of course, pure white and glossy, nearly 
the same thickness at both ends, but a little pointed towards the smaller end. 
Tt measures 1.61 in length by 1.15 in width.” 
I have taken two or three nests of this fine Pigeon in North Cachar, taking 
also one of the parent birds, so that there was no doubt as to their identification. 
These nests were all slight structures of twigs and sticks, mostly torn from 
trees and still quite pliant and soft, interlaced into platforms about 10 in. 
across, and some 2 or 3 in. deep. ‘There was no lining of any kind, and the 
depression was of the shallowest. 
In each case the nest was placed in a small tree in evergreen-forest at 
about 12 to 20 ft. from the ground. 
Of the three nests of which I have personal records, one was taken at 
Laisung, North Cachar, over 4,000 ft. ; one at Guilang, a little lower, and one 
in the Mahar Valley at about 2,000 ft. Each contained a single fresh egg 
and they were taken in May and June. 
Hopwood, in a letter to me, says that he has taken the eggs in the Chin 
Hills this year, apparently in the end of April. 
Six eggs in my collection vary between 1.72 in. ( = 43.6 mm.) and 1.94. 
( = 49.1 mm.) in length, and between 1.26 in. ( = 32 mm.) and 1.44 
( = 35.4 mm.) in breadth. 
They are of the usual regular elliptical shape, in one or two cases a trifle 
more pointed at one end. The surface is highly glossy and the texture soft 
and smooth. 
In its habits this bird differs in no way from the last. Harington 
says that it is entirely a hill-bird, keeping to the higher hills. 
