THE BIRDS OF SINGAPORE ISLAND 
Mr. H. C. Robinson gives the breeding season in 
Selangor as from December to March. In Singapore we are 
sure that it extends later into the year — possibly to June. 
During this time the parent birds are seen alone, but 
once the young can fly the pigeons get together into small 
flocks composed of from five to ten individuals, and as these 
again may unite, flock$ of two dozen or thirty, or even more, 
are not uncommon. 
Once the "packing" takes place, and incidentally the 
shooting season is timed to open at about that time, the 
pigeons drop into very regular habits and heavy bags are made 
by men who watch the flight lines. The pigeons pay a very 
heavy price for their regular habits. 
In July and August very young birds are often killed and 
throughout the whole antumn many immature birds that have 
not assumed the fully adult plumage fall to the guns. 
The ptmai shows marked preferences for certain roosting 
places usually in high trees, and to these tall clumps many 
hundreds will fly nightly. They fiy high and fast and if the 
wind is behind them travel at an astonishing rate. Good 
shooting is essential to bring them down for they swerve a lot 
and will twist and dip when alarmed : also they are hardy 
little birds and will carry off a lot of shot. They follow 
regular flight lines between the feeding grounds and the 
roosting-place but these lines may be frequently altered, 
particularly if the birds are much worried by gunners, a process 
which also makes the birds extremely shy towards the end of 
the season. The evening: flight, which is short but rapid while 
it lastSt the flocks of birds coming in fast and pitching into 
the tops of the trees, appears to start about an hour before 
sunset. Once the punai have settled down it takes a lot to 
shift them out of the trees again. In the morning they leave 
for the feediwg grounds and to drink in much the same manner 
their objective being berry-bearing trees, and Mr. H. N. Ridley 
says that in the Botanic Gardens they are very fond of figs. 
The punai is extremely greedy and may stuff its crop so 
fttll that it bursts when the bird drops after it is shot. It is 
also very quarrelsome in disposition and a large amount of 
squabbling takes place in the tree tops when birds are feeding. 
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