THE BIRDS OF SINGAPORE ISLAND 
imported into Singapore for this js another favourite cage-bird 
with the natives. It breeds on the island. 
Field A'oitst — Size alone will disting-uish this bird from 
the barred ground-dove and as it is the only brownish lookin^j 
bird of normal pi^reon size found in Sing-apore there shoiild 
be no difficulty in recog-nizuig it* Fiirtheninorc no other 
pigeon found on the island has a ring^ round its neck. It is 
not so terrestrial in its habits as the last species we dealt with 
and much more frequently seen in trees. In aligfhtintr or 
taking^ fiil^ht the tail is widely spread and the white tips to the 
tail feathers arc very conspicuous. 
It is more often than not seen walking, or rather 
waddling, about the j^rass. In Singapore it is usually seen 
alone, in pairs or small family parties, but in the Peninsula it is 
known to rongreg^ate into much larger flocks, On the outlying- 
islands this species seems to be less numerous than the barred 
ground-dove. 
Of her habits -.—Most observers seetii agreed that this dove 
breeds all the year round. We have seen nestlinfrs in April 
but as we have unfortimately never seen the nest and eggs 
we must i^et our information on these points from Mr. Stuart 
Baker's book : — '*The nest is like that of the Indian Spotted 
Dove, a very flimsy concern made of fine twigs and coarse 
grasses, with occasionally a few roots and weed-stems added 
to the others, These are all interlaced to form a rough and 
very transparent platfonn 5 or 6 inchefi in diameter, which is 
placed in any shrub, bush, saplingr, chimp of bamboos or cane- 
brake a few feet from the ground, never over some 20 feet or 
so, generally lower and sometimes as low as 3 feet". 
In Burma there are records of its nest having been four^d 
on the ground. 
The eggs are. of course, white and two in number. 
When disturbed from the ground the tekukor usually flies 
up to the nearest tree. Mr. Jacobson writing from Sumatra 
says ''this bird is in great favour with the Malays as a cage- 
bird and also they let them fight, putting money wagers on the 
birds. These fights are quite bloodless, as the opposing birds 
only beat each other with the wings : the one retreating first 
is the loser". 
The food appears to consist largely of grain and seeds. 
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