THE COMMON OR PIMK-NECKED GREEN PIGEON 
The punai has a %'ery characteristic note much easier to 
recogriise than describe, 
[This beautiful Httle pigeon is very well-known to 
sportsmen throughout Malaya. Before the suburbs extended 
so far as they now do, it used to be quite con^mon close to the 
town; and. even now, though it is essentially -a denizen of the 
iimgle and one which does not, like some of the Doves, 
frequent the neng-hbourhood of buildings, small flocks may 
often be seen and its curious liquid bubbling note still more 
frequently heard in the Botanical Gardens and the larger 
compounds of private houses: further afield it is more 
abundant. 
As is the case generally with this sub-family (of which 
there are numerous well marked species) the punai is 
srrcgarious and feeds on fruits and berries, haunting the tops 
of high trees in sometimes very large flights. In the early 
niorning from daybreak till about nine it comes dow^n to drink 
and for a couple of hours before sunset straggles back to its 
roosting place in the tall jungle: and it is on these occasions 
that, if one can discover a regular line of passage (which 
however is often altered), excellent sport may be obtained: 
but it flies as a rule high and fast and dips and swerves in a 
perplexing fashion on sighting the glint of a gun-barrel; so 
takes a good deal of hitting. They are very nice to eat either 
hot roast on toast like a Snipe or better still in a pie — preferably 
cold — for breakfast, Malays who live in suitable localities, 
where the birds are numerous, catch them ver>' cle%^erly in long 
nets strung up a dozen or more feet above the ground between 
tall bamboo poles in likely spots in short cover near where the 
punai are accustomed to alight to drink: as the flocks swoop 
down towards the water*s edge the native throws a stout stick- 
as high as he can in the air, if possible above the birds: they, 
frightened no doubt and mistaking the stick for a liawk, drop 
wildly still closer towards the ground and some may become 
entangled in the nets. 
They are often seen in captivity and bear confinement well. 
Their prevailing green plumage assimilates so closely to the 
colour of the foliage of the trees, in which they spend the bidk 
of their time, that thev are thus screened from any but the 
keenest observation : in flighting they appear very dark. — 
T. A, S. B,] 
[ 51 ] 
