THE BROKrE-WlNG:ED DOVE 
of some convenient cover into which they can dash when 
distiirbtd, or again sometimes one will flash jjast, low down, 
thrtadini,": its way throngh the branches and trees with amazing 
dexterity. Under these circumstances the species cannot be 
mistaken, for although green on the back and more or less 
similar in size the pnnai is never seen in such situations and 
when he visits the Gardens it is always in small swiftly flying 
(locks tliat pass over well up iji the air or settle in the tops of the 
tall trees. 
Other habits: — Writing of this bird in the Malay Peninsula 
Mr. H. C. Robinson says *'It Jrequeuts. as a rule, damp 
localities and gullies in old and fairly open jungle, but is 
occasionally found in second growth forest, and 1 have even 
seen it in the Kuala Lumpur Public Gardens". In India 
Mr, Stuart Baker says that st 'Is essentially a forest-bird and, 
moreover, one confined almost entirely to damp evergreen- 
forests and their vicinity* though it may be met with less 
often in deciduous forest and bamboo-jungle, it is extremely 
partial to the banks of the smaller forest-streams and to mossy 
tracks through heavy forest ". Everything points to the fact 
that the few birds we have in the Botanic Gardens and 
elsewhere in Singapore must have clung to their old haunts 
with remarkable pertinacity ! 
According to most authorities the nest is placed in a bush 
at no great height from the ground. 
This bird which on account of its brilliant plumage and 
the readiness with which it adapts itself to confinement is a 
favourite cage-bird with the Malay.s appears to be very 
easily caught. Ridley's account of the catching process is 
*'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 proditce the 
cry "hoop hoop" of the pigeon. The birds come, and 
settling down before the hut begin to cat the rice, while the 
bird-catcher nooses them one by one with the aid of the stick 
and string'*. Kelham improves on this thus, '^According to 
one of the Malacca bird-catchers, after having discovered a 
place frequented by these Doves, generally an open space 
near high jungle, he concealed himself in a small hut of 
[63 1 
