84 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



whether or not it is found during the winter months in the adjacent 

 valleys and lower hills. 



Hume, in " Lahore to Yarhand," drew attention to the fact that vast 

 multitudes " of this species were found during the summer in a zone of 

 hills ranging from twenty to one hundred miles in width, and stretching, 

 at any rate, from the borders of Afghanistan to the banks of the Ganges 

 at Hardwar," but, that during the winter they disappeared altogether. 

 Hume suggests that these birds migrate to Assam, Cachar, Tipperah, and 

 Burma, but I feel sure that there are no grounds for this behef , for twenty- 

 five years' residence in these parts have shown that there is no influx of 

 birds into them during the cold weather. In Nepal there is nothing to show 

 whether it ever moves up and down the mountains at Ijhe advent and 

 departure of the hot weather, and in the Assam ranges I have been unable 

 to ascertaia that there is any movement of this nature. In North Cachar 

 it was common up to about 6,000 ft. throughout the year, and equally 

 so at all heights down to about 2,000 ft., below which it was somewhat 

 less common though stiU plentiful right down to the level of the plains. 

 In the Avicultural Magazine for March, 1912, Mr. P. T. L. Dodsworth 

 refers to local migration in the following notes on the habits of this 

 Green Pigeon : " The Kokla, or Wedge-tailed Green Pigeon is a common 

 summer visitant to the North-west Himalayas, south of the first snowy 

 ranges, arriving from Nepal and farther eastwards about the last week 

 in April, or the beginning of May, to breed, and then returning to their 

 old haunts about September, or as autumn sets in. During their summer 

 sojourn in these mountains they are generally to be found along the outer 

 ranges, at elevations of 4,000 to 7,000 ft., but are most common about 

 5,000 ft. They principally affect well wooded and shady dales, hill-sides, 

 valleys, and glens, and are not so gregarious as the Green Pigeons men- 

 tioned by Mr. Dewar, which are to be found in large flocks, sometimes 

 numbering as many as thirty to forty individuals, and even more. Our 

 birds are to be seen either singly or in pairs, or in small parties of three or 

 foiu:. They are strictly arboreal, and are exclusively frugivorous. They 

 are very partial to the ripe berries of the Kaiphul {Myrica sapuida). 

 When hunting for fruit, they are continually gliding about the branches, 

 like squirrels ; and, from their strong feet, they can hang over to seize 

 a fruit, and recover their position at once by the strong muscles of their 

 legs. When perfectly quiet they are very difl&cult to observe from the 

 similarity of their tints to that of leaves. They are heavy feeders, and 



