NICOBAR PIGEON 117 
of me, they were soon joined by others, till there must have been at least 
thirty, old and young, all round me. I remained perfectly still (hardly 
daring to breathe) and watched them for some time. 
“ Their gait is quite Pigeon-like. Every now and then one would 
stop, and tossing the leaves aside, dig into the ground with its bill. They 
did not move in any regular manner but walked hither and thither, and 
if two adults, or two young ones met they generally made a peck or two 
at one another before separating. I did not observe them use their 
feet to scratch aside the leaves, like gallinaceous birds, nor did I see 
any of the adults run, they kept up a steady but sprightly walk the 
whole time. Occasionally one would rush up with wide spread wings to 
one of its neighbours, and then stand with open mouth flapping its 
wing until it was either beaten off, or the other beat a retreat ; but I did 
not see any of the young fed by their parents. They are very silent 
birds, and the only note I heard was a somewhat hoarse, guttural kind 
of croak, not unlike that sometimes made by the domestic Pigeon when 
taken in the hand. 
“The stomachs of those I shot on Katchall contained seeds very 
similar to a prune stone, more or less broken up, but on Battye Malve 
they seem to have eaten a whitish seed about the size of the head of a 
blanket-pin. The gizzard of this bird is very peculiar, being composed 
of two discs of cartilage as hard as, and of the same texture as bone, 
slightly convex on the inner surface, between which is a pebble, usually a 
white quartz a little larger than a fresh pea. 
‘Many of these birds are caught on the western coast of Nancowry 
and Camorta with horse-hair nooses placed on the ground in places they 
frequent, the bait used being wild fruits. They sell at Camorta for three 
rupees or six shillings per pair, and a good many find their way to 
Calcutta.” 
Butler adds a good deal of interesting matter to these notes in his 
article in the Bombay Journal (1.c.), where he writes : “‘ I found it very 
shy and difficult to shoot. It is quite silent so that you have no means of 
knowing its whereabouts ; creeping through the jungle you are startled 
by a tremendous flutter of wings overhead, and get just a glimpse of a 
large dark bird with a short white tail disappearing on the wrong side 
of at least two trees. You may have time to get in the snappiest of snap 
shots, and it may be effective ; mine generally were not, though occasion- 
ally the report would be followed by a cheery thud. Fortunately one 
