246 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



observed, and I have examined a great many of these birds, I find that 

 they live exclusively on the Nepal or bird's-eye chilli. 



" This plant grows abimdantly all over the Andamans and Nico- 

 bars, especially in the secondary jmigle, and on the edges of clearings. 

 I was informed, when at the Andamans, that the flesh of this bird was 

 quite pungent from feeding on these chillies, but I tried several, having 

 had them cooked without even the usual adjuncts of pepper or salt, 

 and although the flesh had a somewhat peculiar, but not unpleasant, 

 flavour, I could not detect the sUghtest trace of this attributed 

 pungency. " The amount of chillies consumed by these Doves must 

 be enormous. I have often shot them with their crops so distorted 

 that, falling from a moderate height, they have burst." 



In regard to this quaint diet, Messrs. Abbot and Kloss record that 

 they found the bird on aU the islands except Car Nicobar, and most 

 common on Katchal, where all those they shot were found to have 

 been feeding on chillies. Butler, however, though he also examined 

 the contents of the stomachs of nine dozen birds, never found a chilli 

 in any of them. He notes the contents of four birds' stomachs as 

 follows : " (1) Crop fuU of a small, hard, round, black seed, about the 

 size of No. 1 shot. I bit open one or two of these and they had a 

 white nutty kernel, which caused a slight but distinct irritation in the 

 mouth, lasting for some moments. (2) Crop contained 39 green berries, 

 looking very like large boiled peas. (3) Had been feeding on a long 

 green fruit, an inch in length, with another inch of stalk attached. 

 (4) Same as (2)." 



Like their bigger relative the Bar-tailed Cuckoo-Dove, they are 

 both arboreal and terrestrial in their habits, feeding, as is shown in the 

 notes quoted above, freely both on trees and on the ground. Their flight 

 is said to be quick and powerful, and Butler describes them as flying at 

 a very great height when flighting to and from their feeding-grounds. 



Their plumage, like that of aU others of this genus, is very lax, 

 and seems to be loosely attached to the skin, so that when shot, and on 

 faUing to the groimd, they lose so many feathers that it is very difficult 

 to procure good specimens for museums. 



There appears to be nothing on record in regard to their voice 

 beyond Osmaston's note m the Bombay Natural History Society's 

 Journal, where he states that it is very peculiar and somewhat 

 resembling that of Cuculus c. canorus, the common Cuckoo. 



