14 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



rights and lefts, and all the birds killed fell, I believe, upon the embank- 

 ment itself. My own shooting, alas, was rewarded by many splashes 

 in the water behind and by one or two in front, but fall on land these 

 contrary Pigeons would not, and at the end of the afternoon's shoot I 

 had gathered five birds to my companion's thirty or forty. The plumage 

 of all Pigeons, especially perhaps of Green Pigeons, is very dense and 

 close in proportion to their size, and they take a lot of hitting to bring 

 them down clean ; more particularly so when the shooter is forced to 

 fire at them coming towards him. The size of shot generally used 

 is No. 7, but many use No. 6 and a few No. 5. This latter is, however, 

 too large, and does not give as good an average as Nos. 6 or 7. Person- 

 ally I always used the latter, and found this shot, with a full charge 

 of one's favourite powder, whatever that may be, and a choke or semi- 

 choke 16-bore, gave the best aU-round results. 



The Bengal Green Pigeon does not, as a rule, coUect in very large 

 flocks — some eight to a dozen birds form the majority of flocks — 

 but others of twenty or even thirty may occasionally be met with. 

 In their favourite feeding-haunts when the fig trees are in fruit, several 

 flocks often collect on the same tree, and in such circumstances 

 I should think I have seen sixty birds on one tree. These, however, 

 though at the first alarm they all go off together, soon spUt up into 

 their component parts. Sometimes single birds or pairs may be met 

 with in the non-breeding season, but they are very sociable, and 

 where this particular species is rare, I have often seen it associating 

 with other Green Pigeons and keeping with them as they moved from 

 one spot to another. In spite of their fondness for society they are, 

 all the same, very quarrelsome birds — a characteristic, it is to be feared, 

 of nearly aU the " gentle " dove tribe. They are not so bad, however, 

 in this respect as the true Pigeons, and can be kept in some numbers 

 together in a cage, provided it is large enough. I had five or six pairs 

 once in quite a small aviary, about 6 ft. by 8 and about 6 ft. high, 

 and here they hved quite amicably, seldom fighting except over what 

 they conceived to be the finest nesting-places. 



Pigeons are greedy drinkers, drinking as everyone knows by 

 burying their bills in the water and taking long draughts without 

 withdrawing them. The hill-tribes firmly believe that Green Pigeons 

 never come on to the ground to drink, but cUmb down creepers hanging 

 over the water, or down reeds growing in it, until they are close enough 



