WEDGE-TAILED GREEN PIGEON 87 



' coo ' the whole time. The hen did not seem to reUsh these attentions, 

 for she would drop down on to the floor of the cage, as if to avoid her mate, 

 who immediately followed her, and with a low ' coo-coo ' called her into 

 a corner of the cage. Both birds would then pretend to pick up some- 

 thing from the ground, and after a short time fly back to their perches. 

 This was constantly repeated during the day, and the proceeding on the 

 part of the male struck me as being very similar to that of a cock in the 

 poultry yard calUng his hens round him when a dainty morsel has been 

 found. During the breeding season here I have often heard the male 

 Kokla in the wild state utter the low ' coo-coo ' note after his usual song, 

 but have never up to this had the good fortune actually to witness the 

 courtship. 



" Just when matters were reaching a most interesting stage with my 

 birds, the hen suddenly sickened and died, and it is almost impossible to 

 describe in words the intense grief which was displayed by her mate. 

 For a long time he walked round and round her body, staging and calling 

 her, and would not aUow any one to touch her. When the dead bird 

 was eventually removed and placed on the groimd outside the cage, he 

 stiU kept walking round and round, singing and caUing her. For the 

 whole of that day, and for several days after the death of the hen, he 

 was perpetually whistling at short intervals and going through the 

 form of comrtship already described, and there seemed no doubt 

 whatever that he was greatly distressed at the domestic calamity that 

 had befallen him. 



" Three months have now passed since the death of the hen, and the 

 cock seems to be somewhat reconciled to his loneliness. The courtship 

 proceedings are still occasionally indulged in, but as there is now no fair 

 one to whom he can pay his attentions, he eliminates the final act of 

 dropping in the corner of his cage, and caUing to his mate. He seems at 

 times to get tired of his plantain diet, and for two or three days at a time 

 wiU eat nothing else but grain — a habit no doubt acquired from his 

 quondam companions, the Doves : he also occasionally eats large quan- 

 tities of mud, apparently as an aid to digestion. The sound of a bugle 

 or the striking of a clock sets him off singing at once. His powers of 

 discernment appear to be highly developed. I have three dogs in the 

 house, and these appear to be on the most friendly terms with him : he 

 does not mind their presence in the least, and sometimes when he gets a 

 chance even pecks at their noses, when the animals come too close to 



