ORANGE-BREASTED GREEN PIGEON 53 



his wife with occasional dainties, and cheering her with his whistling when 

 she is sitting. 



Incubation takes, I think, twelve or fourteen days ; but I have never made 

 quite sure of this, and it may be a day more or less according to the weather, 

 which affects incubation to a great extent. 



The eggs are, of course, the same soft smooth white like those of the rest 

 of the family, and the average size of 100 eggs is 1.1 in. ( = 27.9 mm.) by .89 

 ( = 22.6 mm.). 



This beautiful Green Pigeon is extremely abundant throughout 

 the Province of Assam, alike in the plains and in the hills up to about 

 2,500 ft., thence becoming more scarce up to about 4,000 ft., above 

 which it is rare. It does however sometimes occur up to at least 6,000 ft. 

 for I have shot one of a pair seen at the Peak, near Shillong in the Khasia 

 Hills, in heavy rhododendron and oak forest, and have occasionally also 

 seen it in the highest ranges to the east of the North Cachar Hills 

 roimd and about Hungrum. 



It is principally a bird of forest-country and prefers above all the 

 vast stretches of forest-land running along the foot of the Himalayas, 

 and for some few miles into the adjoining plains, especially frequenting 

 such places as are broken up by a certain amount of cultivation and 

 scattered villages. At the same time, wherever there are trees bearing 

 fruit for them to eat, these birds will also be found, except in the most 

 open of plains, and occasionally they may be met with even in clumps 

 of fruit-trees and village orchards — or topes, as they are called — ^far 

 from any forest. 



Around villages and in the more open parts of their habitat they 

 will be found resorting to their feeding-places from daybreak until 

 8 or 10 a.m., and again in the cool of the evening ; but in forest-country 

 and about villages standing in heavily wooded tracts they will feed 

 more or less throughout the day, except for two to four hours of the 

 hottest time, when they retire to the densest foliaged forest-trees 

 for their siesta. In Gimjong, North Cachar HiUs, these birds came 

 into my garden more frequently than any other Green Pigeon, and 

 used to feed greedily on a kind of fig of which there were two or three 

 trees bearing fruit nearly all the year round. They were also very 

 partial to the guava-fruit which, when ripe and soft, they tore to pieces 

 with their bills, swallowing huge bits as big, if not bigger, than their 

 own heads. A more objectionable habit they had was that of getting 

 iato the orange-groves and puUing off the tiay oranges when about 

 the size of small marbles. I don't think they ate many of these, for 



