236 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



Drongo ; it, the Dove's nest, was very high-up and in a most exposed situa- 

 tion, but I spotted the bird in the first instance and it was not until I drew 

 nearer that I saw it was sitting on a nest. The eggs seem to be creamy and 

 not quite a pure white." 



The eggs cannot be distinguished from those of the Indian Eed Turtle- 

 Dove, but average a trifle larger, viz. 1.08 by .83 in { = 27.4 by 21.1 mm.). 



In habits this bird seems to be even more strictly confined to the 

 better-wooded districts than is its Indian cousin, but it certainly prefers 

 such districts when they also contain plenty of open spaces and cul- 

 tivation. In Assam and the Surma Valley they were equally common 

 all the year round, but Harington thinks that in Burma they are locally 

 migratory and that they only \isit the dry zone in the cold weather. 

 During that season he found them in large flocks, whilst in other parts 

 they were nearly always to be seen in pairs, or less often singly. 



Even in Assam, however, after the rice and other crops have been 

 cut, they desert the cover to some extent and feed in very great numbers 

 in the fields, when they ofEer very good sport indeed. They are magni- 

 ficent little fliers and rise and get away like lightning, seldom allowing 

 one to get within thirty yards or so before they take to wing. If the 

 food is tempting, the stubble fairly long, and the open country exten- 

 sive, they will fly half a mile or more before again alighting, but when 

 flushed a second time leave for the forest and do not return to feed 

 that evening. I have, however, known bags of twenty and thirty couple 

 of this little Dove shot in a couple of hours in an evening, and though 

 the birds may swarm and keep rising all round, not one in twenty 

 comes within shot, so that this toll on their numbers has little or no effect 

 in checking their increase. 



They are delicious eating, though it takes a good many to make a 

 square meal, and they seem always to be in splendid condition. 



Their note is the same single, abrupt grunt as that of the Indian 

 bird, and is rather freely indulged in in the mornings and evenings, 

 each utterance being accompanied by a funny little bob, as if the sound 

 had to be jerked out. 



I have seen them drinking at all times of the day, and they are fond 

 of bathing as well, or dusting themselves in dry earth. 



