250 INDIAN PIGEONS AND DOVES 



Distribution. Burma, throughout the Malay States, Siam, Borneo, 

 Sumatra, and Java. 



Within Indian limits it is found throughout Tenasserim in suitable 

 localities, in southern Pegu, and at least as far north as Shandoung, about 

 latitude 19°, in the Bre country, south of Karennee, where it was obtained 

 by Messrs. S. M. Robinson and J. P. Cook. Davison also obtained it at 

 Kolidoo, and Colonel (then Captain) Wardlaw Ramsay in the Karen Halls, 

 east of Tonghoo, whence also Mr. de Wet sent specimens to Gates. 



Nidification. The first record of this little Dove's breeding is that 

 of Mr. S. M. Robinson in the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society. 

 Whilst bird-nesting in Shandoung on April 19th, 1911, he came across its nest, 

 and thus records his find : " Higher up the hill, after the undergrowth had 

 ceased, in bamboo Jungle consisting of separate clumps of six, eight or ten 

 bamboos and quite open, I saw a pad of moss where the bamboo shoots take 

 off in a cluster. On going up, a long-tailed Dove flew off. I waited twenty-five 

 minutes and shot it practically on the nest. This consisted of a flat pad of 

 moss, almost quite hard, about 12 ft. up the bamboo. It was difficult to 

 get the egg, as I expected it would roll off every minute as we telescoped the 

 bamboo. 



"The egg measured 1.26 by .84 in., a perfect ellipse, and cream tinted 

 with very faint coffee-colour." 



On April 25th of the same year and at the same place Mr. J. P. Cook 

 found a second nest containing one hard-set egg. The nest, like the last, 

 was placed high up in a single bamboo, but unlike that taken by Mr. Robinson, 

 was of the usual type and " composed of a very scanty collection of twigs." 

 The egg unfortunately got broken in getting it down from the nest. I have 

 had several eggs sent me by Mr. W. A. T. Kellow taken in the hills near 

 Perak and also by my collectors in Tenasserim. 



The nests are described as the usual Dove's nests of sticks, but often with 

 a base of moss and sometimes composed almost entirely of this material. 

 Generally they are placed on bamboos, either singly or in clumps, at anything 

 from six to fifteen feet from the ground, but a few nests were taken from 

 small saplings or high bushes, and in these latter cases no moss was ever used 

 in their construction. 



The breeding-season seems to be an early one. In the extreme north 

 of their range in the Karen Hills they lay, as we have seen, in April. Further 

 south, my men took their eggs in February and March, and in Perak and 

 the surrounding country they appear to lay in January and February, whilst 

 some eggs I have received from Borneo have also been taken in February. 

 On the other hand, eggs I purchased from the Waterstradt Collection, also 

 taken in North Borneo, were all laid in July, and I have also one or two eggs 

 from Perak laid in May, so it seems probable that they have two broods in 

 the year. 



They lay either one or two eggs, generally I believe the former, but my 

 North Bornean eggs are all in pairs, and I have likewise had pairs from the 

 Malay States and Tenasserim. 



The eggs in my collection vary very greatly in size, the biggest, possibly 

 an abnormal egg, measuring 1.32 by .90 in. ( = 33.5 by 22.8 mm.), and the 

 smallest 1.10 by .80 in. ( = 27.9 by 20.3 mm.), whilst the average of sixteen 

 eggs is 1.17 by .83 in. ( = 29.7 by 21 mm.). 



They are in appearance very much like big eggs of the Emerald Ground- 

 Dove, but average longer and narrower in proportion and are also a somewhat 



