DOVES IN A VERANDAH 



THE office building in which for some time 

 past I have rendered service to a paternal 

 government was once a tomb. That it is 

 now an office is evidence of the strict 

 economy practised by the Indian Administration. 

 Since the living require more light than the dead, 

 skylights have been let into the domed roof. In these 

 the brown rock-chat (Cercomela fusca) loves to sit 

 and pour forth his exceedingly sweet little lay, while 

 his spouse sits on four pale blue eggs in a nest on a 

 ledge in a neighbouring sepulchre. But it is not of this 

 bird that I write to-day ; I hope to give him an innings 

 at some future date. 



Two little brown doves (Turtur cambaiensis) first 

 demand our attention, since these for a time appro- 

 priated my skylights. This species is smaller than the 

 spotted dove so common in Madras, and, to my way 

 of thinking, is a much more beautiful bird. Its head, 

 neck, and breast are pale lilac washed with red. On 

 each side of the neck the bird carries a miniature chess- 

 board. The remainder of its plumage is brown, passing 

 into grey and white. The legs are lake-red. 



It has a very distinctive note a soft, subdued musical 

 cuk-cuk-coo-coo-coo. There is no bird better pleased with 



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