BIRDS IN SINGAPORE. 87 
and I found a nest made of skeletons of leaves and fibres and 
bast, apparently from the lining of an squirrel’s nest, and bark, 
between two leaves of these plants, which had been pegged 
together by bits. of stick, by some person. One little bird was 
sitting on the nest nearly fully fledged. I have szen one of 
these spider hunters pursuing a very large cricket in the 
gardens, which I have no doubt it would have killed had it not 
been alarmed at the sight of me, though the cricket had 
exceedingly powerful jaws and gave me a severe bite when 
I caught it. 
Of pigeons, four kinds regularly haunt the gardens. The 
well known green pigeon, Osmatreron vernans, the ** Punei,” often 
comes in small flocks when the berry bearing trees and 
especially the figs are in fruit. I have seen pigeons’ nests in 
the trees which may belong to this bird, which breeds regularly 
at Changi. The nest is like that of most pigeons, a little mass 
of small sticks on which one or two white eggs are laid. It 
‘is usually placed in a most conspicuous position in a small tree. 
The ground pigeon, Chalcophaps aenea *‘ Puneitana,” ‘* Burong 
Jekut,” ‘“‘Serango” or “* Lembuk” of the Malays) may often be 
seen about the grounds. Its dark green wings, and puce-coloured 
-head and breast make it a very pretty bird, and it is popular 
asa pet among the Malays. Its peculiar habit of living almost 
exclusively on the ground, and its boldness, make it an easy prey 
to the bird-catcher, and it is caught in the following way. The 
fowler conceals himself in a hut of leaves or ferns, provided 
with a cow’s horn and a long stick with a loop of string at the | 
end. Having sprinkled some rice on the ground in front of the hut, 
he blows the horn so as _ to produce the cry ‘hoop, hoop” 
of the pigeon. The birds come, and settling down before the hut 
begin to eat the corn, while the bird catcher nooses them one by 
one with the aid of the stick and string. 
The two turtledoves ‘Tukukur,” Yurtur tigrinus and Geo- 
pelia striata are very common. The latter, which is the smaller 
bird, is kept as a pet constantly by Malays, who say that it 
prevents fire occurring in.a house and also wards off evil spirits. 
In selecting one for this purpose much attention is paid to the 
sound of its cooing, and to the number of scales it has on its toes. 
These turtledoves are captured by birdlime in the follow- 
ing way. <A stick about two feet long is smeared atone end with 
