242 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



way. In the first place they are so tame that anyone can get near 

 enough for a shot, and secondly their flight is slow when they first 

 take to wing, and their plumage does not resist shot hke that of the 

 Green Pigeon, so that they do not carry away or resist shot as the latter 

 birds do. Nor when killed are they of much use, unless wanted for a 

 museum, as their flesh is generally very hard and dry, and only palatable 

 when made into stew with claret and vegetables. 



The male bird has a curious habit during the breeding-season, 

 not uncommon amongst members of the family, of perching on the top- 

 most twig of some tree and then latinching itself high into the air with 

 vigorous clappings of its wings until it has risen some 50 ft. or so, when 

 it spreads its wings out straight, puffs out its feathers, especially the 

 long spiny ones of the rump, and sails slowly down in a spiral to its 

 former perch. There it rests a few moments, booming at intervals 

 of two or three seconds, and then once more parades in the air before 

 its lady-love. At these times it is a very noisy bird and, where it is 

 common, its deep call may be heard resounding in every direction, but, 

 at times other than the breeding-season, it is very silent. 



This bird is not gregarious in its habits, but where one is met the 

 pair to it will assuredly not be far off, for the male and female seem 

 to mate for life, and will be found together in breeding and non-breeding 

 season alike. 



When shooting Jungle-fowl, Doves, etc., in the mustard-clearings 

 in North Cachar, I almost invariably put up great numbers of these 

 birds, and out of smaU patches, perhaps fifty yards wide by less than 

 half a mile long, must often have disturbed over a himdred Cuckoo- 

 Doves. These mustard-fields are generally clearings made along the 

 banks of some MU-stream and, more often than not, have dense forest 

 on all three of the other boimdaries away from the stream, so that they 

 form favourite resorts for all kinds of game, from Doves to Hombills, 

 and from squirrels to buffaloes and elephants, whilst the mustard, 

 when fuU grown, provides cover so high and dense that even big deer 

 can lie close in it without being detected. Out of cover of this des- 

 cription the Cuckoo-Doves flush in quick succession a few paces in front 

 of one, rising straight up until they are six to ten feet in the air and 

 then sailing away quite slowly to a distant part of the clearing, or to 

 some tree upon which they sit until the intruder has passed by. Of 



