DOVES AND PIGEONS 103 



bronzes, browns, purples, and greens of its plumage, 

 and the vivid red of the bill and legs, so that it 

 seems to appear and disappear as it passes in and 

 out of the patches of light and shade. When in 

 deep shade they are almost invisible, owing to the 

 way in which the colouring of their plumage matches 

 the tints of the green foliage above, and the brown 

 and purple of the fallen leaves and ground below. 

 Like most other doves, they are easily kept in 

 captivity; but they are uninteresting birds, and, 

 owing to their outrageous pugnacity, it is very 

 difficult to keep more than a single pair in any 

 enclosure of moderate size. With almost all Indian 

 doves and pigeons this is the only difficulty that 

 arises. The single exceptional case that I ever met 

 with during a long and varied experience was that 

 of a purple wood-pigeon, Alsocomus puniceus, obtained 

 as a nestling from the jungles of Chutia Nagpur. 

 Although it survived for many months it never 

 throve in spite of being supplied with everything in 

 the way of food that seemed most likely to suit it ; 

 and when it died, clear signs of imperfect nutrition 

 were found in almost complete absence of ossifi- 

 cation throughout the whole of its skeleton. The 

 most striking example of the ease with which 

 pigeons, as a rule, can adapt themselves to exist- 

 ence under abnormal conditions is afforded by the 

 snow-pigeon, Columba leuconota. In the wild state 

 it is rarely to be seen far from the snow-line, inhabit- 



