CHALCOPHAPS INDICA. 121 



that when the male utters his plaintive and sweet cry, he opens the mandibles 

 wide ; but the swelling of the throat, if any, is hidden by the feathers. The 

 sound is low and soft, and not too loud for a room ; so that persons who are 

 apt to be short in temper, and are aware of the failing, might do w^ell to keep 

 these birds, which are at once pretty and beneficial, acting as a sedative. They 

 appear to be gentle in disposition; nevertheless, when the cock fights, he 

 opens his wings and strikes with them in the manner of Pigeons. The hen 

 makes a lower sound. 



Jerdon says ('Birds of India,' vol. iii. p. 485):— '^ This beautiful 

 Ground-Dove is found throughout India in forest-countries, occasionally in 

 well-wooded districts, as in Lower Bengal, as far as, at all events, Tenasserim. 

 It is very partial to bamboo-jungle, and occurs from the level of the sea up 

 to 3000 feet, or perhaps higher. It feeds mostly on the ground, often on 

 roads in forests and bare spots under trees, walking along with a rapid 

 motion, and allowing a moderately near approach. It is generally seen alone. 

 The voice is a low plaintive moan, or ' lowdng coo,' as Layard calls it. The 

 eggs are said by Layard to be pale yellowish drab colour ; but Blyth says 

 that they are merely of a less pure white than those of ordinary Pigeons or 

 Doves. Its flight is very rapid. Caged birds are usually for sale in Calcutta ; 

 and it soon becomes reconciled to confinement." 



Jerdon gives this bird the English name of Bronze-winged Dove, which 

 has also been applied to a member of a diff^erent genus — Phaps {Phaps 

 chalcoptera. Lath., of Australia). 



The Peace-making Pigeon seems to do well in confinement; for I 

 observe all the individuals (six in number) which appear in the List of 

 Vertebrated Animals in the Zoological Gardens in 1866 were still living (in the 

 revised Hst) in 1872. 



Writing on the ornithology of the island of Hainan, in the China sea, 

 Mr. R. Swinhoe remarks thus (Ibis, n. s. vol. vi. p. 356) : — 



VOL. II. s 



