TTJBTTJE. 355 



able to sustain a protracted flight can easily be takeD, if fol- 

 lowed up. 



"The Indian Corby (Corvus macro rJii/ncJuns) is a vile and bitter 

 enemy of this and all the other Doves, prosecuting his search for 

 their eggs and young ones with most unflagging energy. The 

 Common Magpie (Dendrocitta rufa) also is another great thief of 

 eggs- 



" On a nest being robbed the parent birds will forthwith set to 

 work and build another, and if that be robbed in its turn they will 

 still go on seeking new sites, building new nests, and laying fresh 

 eggs. 



" The female sits very close on her nest, but if forced from it 

 she will at times fly, or in fact throw herself down on the ground 

 before the intruder, and will then mimic before his astonished gaze 

 all the actions and efforts of a wounded bird trying to escape its 

 pursuers, and thus endeavour to turn him from the nest. 



" In their selection of sites for their nests these birds show very 

 little intelligence, suiting themselves to the first place they find 

 handy, often amongst old furniture in the verandah of a house, 

 cornices of old buildings, low hedges and bushes, or- even the 

 lopped trunk of a tree, if a flat surface is left sufficient to place 

 the nest on, and often in the most exposed situations, where the 

 wretched birds are sure to pay the penalty of their imprudence." 



This species, according to Mr. Hodgson, breeds almost through- 

 out Xepal, laying from February to May. He notes : 



"April "22nd, Jalia Powah. Two nests in the midst of small 

 trees, a rude congeries of hard twig-like grasses and grass-like 

 twigs. One fresh white egg in each." 



Mr. Gammie says : "Breeds freely in the lower hills of Sikhim. 

 On the 20th May I took a nest near Mongphoo, at an elevation of 

 about 3000 feet. It was a mere apology for a nest a loose pad 

 through which the eggs could be seen from below, 5 inches in 

 diameter and less than an inch in thickness, composed of roots and 

 a few fine creeper-stems excessively loosely put together. It was 

 placed in a small tree and contained two much-incubated eggs. 



" I have found this species breeding in May and June from the 

 plains up to 4000 feet. The nest is always of the same type, made 

 of twigs, and the eggs two in number. It is not a permanent 

 resident of the hills, but comes up from the plains in early spring 

 and leaves in Xovernber. It is never found in forests, and prefers 

 places that are well covered with native crops with a few standing 

 trees about. It is most destructive to the dry-ground rice, buck- 

 wheat, and other crops." 



Lieut. H. E. Barnes writes from Eajpootana : " The Spotted 

 Dove has not such an extensive breeding-season as the Little 

 Brown Dove ; indeed, I have only found nests in September." 



Colonel E. A. Butler remarks : " The Spotted Dove is by no 

 means common in the neighbourhood of Deesa, and, as far as I 

 know, only occurs here in the rains and cold weather. In the more 

 wooded parts and in the tank country it is tolerably abundant. 



23* 



