118 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



does sometimes get easy sitting shots and opportunities of observing the 

 birds fairly closely, but they are not often. 



" I usually came across them singly or in parties of three or four 

 to a dozen or so. When feeding on the ground the Caloenas walks 

 about much like a large Emerald Dove, but carries its wings much 

 lower, often indeed dropping them so much as to give one the idea 

 of their being injured at the shoulder. 



" When not feeding they sit silent and alert on some bare 

 horizontal bough, about thirty or forty feet from the groiuid ; seen 

 thus they look very dark in colour, almost blackish, as, indeed, they 

 generally do when seen in the shade. 



" Their flight is swift and very strong, though heavy looking ; 

 the flutter they make in leaving a tree is peculiarly loud and character- 

 istic, so that I could always teU by ear whether a bird flying out over 

 my head was a Caloenas or one of the common Imperial Pigeons." 



Butler found that birds killed on Car Nicobar had been eating 

 the same kind of food as that described by Davison. They are said to be 

 very good to eat, and to get, like most Pigeons, very fat when their 

 favourite foods are plentiful. 



This bird is a very favourite cage-bird throughout Asia, and in 

 most other countries also, as it is extremely hardy and not nearly so 

 quarrelsome as are most Pigeons, provided it is accommodated with a 

 large enough aviary. As might be expected from its terrestrial habits 

 it is largely a grain-feeder, and in captivity its diet generally consists 

 more of rice, corn, maize, etc., than fruit, though it greedily eats almost 

 any fruit that is given to it. 



Some of the individuals in the Zoological Gardens in Calcutta 

 have got so used to visitors and so tame that they fly down to the 

 wires of the aviaries and foUow people round in quest of dainties. 

 These birds eat scraps of bread and biscuit freely, and, I am informed, 

 with no bad effects. They seem very tolerant in their disposition 

 towards other birds sharing their captivity, and I have never noticed 

 them fighting with one another in the manner described by Davison, 

 even during the breeding-season. 



Mr. Sanyal describes their " display " as being very beautiful ; 

 the cock-bird bowing and scraping just as all other Pigeon do, but 

 during these antics the gorgeous metaUic feathers are all puffed out 

 and ghtter and shine in the most wonderful way with each bob of the 



