DOVES AND PIGEONS 97 



ing with one another and with other birds. How 

 any kind of dove should ever have come to be 

 regarded as " harmless " must remain an insoluble 

 problem, for even a very casual observation of their 

 manners and customs is enough to show that their 

 meek and peaceable air is an arrant fraud, veiling 

 selfishness and ill-temper of the deepest dye. A 

 fairly wide experience of the ways of many distinct 

 kinds of pigeons and doves has taught me to be 

 very cautious in confining more than a single pair 

 of any species within a limited space. No matter 

 of what kind they may be; all alike Gouras, 

 Nicobar-pigeons, fruit-pigeons, turtle- and ground- 

 doves are exceptionally irascible and malignant. 

 The great Gouras are just as ill-natured as any of 

 their smaller relatives, and are always ready to 

 annoy and bully any birds that they may come 

 in contact with, running sidelong up to them and 

 striking viciously with their raised wings. It was a 

 pleasant sight to see a Goura, who had just been bully- 

 ing an unoffending Polyplectron have the conceit 

 knocked out of him when he proceeded to try on 

 the same game with a newly imported English 

 pheasant. He had hardly had time to get his wings 

 well up ere his intended victim ran in under his 

 guard and gave him such a healthy dab in the side, 

 that he was fain to collapse and flee for refuge to 

 a perch on a neighbouring branch. Nicobar-pigeons 

 are also very bad neighbours, but their malignity 



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