194 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



manner. The only point against them is that at first a good many 

 birds mil seek refuge in the nearest tree, and then think they are 

 safe, but the sportsman can well afford to leave these alone and pursue 

 the others. 



For the table they are delicious, and excel any of the Pigeons in 

 dehcacy of flavour, whilst they equal them in plumpness and general 

 condition. 



It is not a bird of heavy forest and jungle, keeping much to thin 

 scrub and patches of light jungle round about villages and cultivation, 

 and feeding almost entirely in the open. It is more of a bird of the 

 plains than of the hiUs, but ascends the latter certainly up to 4,000 ft. 

 and commonly up to about 2,000 ft. — ^in Burma possibly a good deal 

 higher. It is principally a grain and seed eater, but will also devour 

 most fruit obtainable when himgry. They are very active on their 

 feet and get their food for the most part from the ground, spending 

 the greater portion of their time upon it when not sleeping during the 

 heat of the day or roosting during the night. Their note is a thrice- 

 repeated, very deep " coo," of the same nature, yet quite distinct from, 

 that of most Doves, and easily recognizable. 



It is a favourite cage-bird, very easily tamed and very easy to 

 feed and keep, for no matter how small the cage, this fleet-winged and 

 wide-ranging bird does not appear to suffer from confinement. In 

 captivity it becomes very lethargic and silent, except during its 

 selected breeding-months, when it wakes up, displays, " coos," and makes 

 love to its companions should it be lucky enough to have any. Blewitt 

 writes of a pair kept by him : " The pair I have are very tame, and the 

 coo of the male (I have not heard the female) is far oftener heard of 

 a morning and evening than during the day. When irritated they 

 utter a peculiarly loud hissing kind of note." 



It must, however, be remembered that they are quarrelsome birds> 

 and though doubtless they would be much more interesting pets in a 

 fair-sized aviary than they are in the tiny native cages, they cannot 

 be kept in company with other birds. 



Nearly aU Doves are thirsty birds, and whilst the majority drink 

 every morning early and every evening before retiring to rest, all, I 

 think, do so regularly and deeply before they take their mid-day siesta, 

 and many again before commencing to feed. 



As a rule they take a few long Sips, run about on the bare sand 



