IN CAPTIVITY IN LOWER BENGAL. 239 



pigeons have twice bred in the garden ; on each occasion the hen laid a 

 single egg in a loosely constructed nest of hay and cocoanut fibres ; 

 during the period of incubation both the male and female sat by turns. 

 The young birds do not get their hackles until the second year, and 

 their general colour is a dull blackish brown with faint copper-bronze 

 reflexions. The emerald doves have also bred ; the hen of a pair of 

 these, living in one of the large side cages in an aviary, took to laying 

 in the seed pan, instead of taking the trouble of building a nest, and 

 there hatched out and reared its young. 



Treatment in sickness. 



Pigeons, like many other birds, suffer from cold, catarrh, diarrhoea, 

 vertigo, rheumatism, &c. ; there is no need to add to what has already 

 been said on these matters. They have also been known to die of other 

 diseases of which the nature remains yet undetermined. A kind of 

 epidemic once broke out in an aviary, and although some other birds 

 also died, it created special havoc among the koklas and green pigeons ; 

 sometimes half a dozen birds were found dead of a morning ; they 

 were mostly strong and well-fed creatures, and careful autopsy failed to 

 detect anything wrong internally. It was singular, however, that 

 every one of them seemed to have a tiny bare patch about their necks, 

 as if the feathers had been forcibly plucked, causing slight congestion 

 of the skin. In an epidemic of this kind, from whatever cause arising, 

 it is advisable to reduce the number of birds in the aviary, as over- 

 crowding is one of the possible causes of such an outbreak, and it also 

 serves the purpose of isolating the healthy and unaffected birds. All 

 the old sand, gravel, earth and grass should be removed, and the house 

 thoroughly washed, scraped and, where practicable, gently fumigated ; 

 old drinking vessels had also better be changed and new substituted. 



Observations on the habits of Pigeons. 



As a rule pigeons and doves are harmless timid birds, of somewhat 

 regular and methodical habits ; some are extremely shy and retiring, 

 while others, though not bold and obtrusive, are nevertheless sociable. 

 Owing to their large size, pleasing colour, and beautiful crest, 

 crown pigeons form a very important feature of an aviary ; they 

 may be generally seen pacing the cage up and down or round the 

 tank, wagging their tails, and sometimes uttering at intervals a' deep 

 and a somewhat prolonged booming noise ; they have another kind of 

 note— a hoarse and hissing grunt, which may be heard while they are 

 fighting ; their manner of fighting is also peculiar; they face each other, 

 then suddenly jumping upward and forward peck at the head or face 

 of the adversary. The flight of the crown pigeons is heavy and accom- 

 panied by a loud whirring noise like that of pheasants ; they have 

 never been found to take a bath by immersion, but one may sometimes 

 be noticed sitting under the jet of a playing fountain and enjoying a 

 bath by exposing first one wing and then the other. The singular 

 attitude which a crested pigeon assumes in order to display its plumage 

 while pursuing a female has something ludicrous in it ; it suddenly 

 crouches forward on its breast, raises its expanded tail, and slowly 



