182 GARDEN AND AVIARY BIRDS. 



on the other hand there is no green on the forehead 

 and root of the tail, the head and tail being all grey. 

 Where the two kinds meet they appear to interbreed 

 freely, as any number of intermediate specimens 

 occur ; and as the extreme forms only differ in the points 

 of colour I have mentioned, they can perhaps better be 

 called local varieties than really distinct species. 



These Green Pigeons are sociable birds, being generally 

 seen in flocks ; they feed only on fruit which is small 

 enough to swallow whole, such as banyan figs, and so 

 are not destructive in gardens like most fruit- eating 

 birds. Although not rare, they easily escape notice, 

 as their plumage matches the foliage of trees so beautifully 

 that they are almost impossible to see. They very 

 seldom come to the ground ; indeed, there is a native 

 story that the Hurrial is so proud of never treading the 

 vulgar earth that it carries a twig in its feet when it 

 comes down to drink ! If it is really proud, it certainly 

 must be ashamed of its appearance on the ground, where 

 it walks awkwardly like a Parrot, not with the dainty 

 tripping gait of ordinary Pigeons. Among the branches, 

 however, it moves gracefully and easily, and is so strong 

 in the feet that it can reach over till its head is pointed 

 perpendicularly downwards when it desires to pick a 

 fruit below its perch. Hurrials build scanty open nests 

 like ordinary Pigeons, and lay the two usual white 

 eggs. In courting, they do not make so much fuss as 

 Pigeons in general, merely stooping, expanding their tail 

 and moving it up and down. Their note is not in the 

 least like a coo, being a modulated whistle, and they 



