The Birds of India. 
223 
Parooufcts. 
Tlie case against the beautiful Green Paroquet is, I fear, far stronger. 
" Pretty polly " appears never to touch insect food. There is no doubt that 
he is destructive to cereal crops in India. He has a bad habit of bitaking 
off a head and casting it away after having eaten only one or two grains. 
He further does harm to fruit gardens. I liave seen a Rose-ringed Paroquet 
(Palaeotnis torqualns) flying off with a small orange in his beak. If these 
birds were very abundant they would undoubtedly become serious pests. 
As it is they are kept well in check. Hundreds of thousands of these are 
caught as nestlings, and sold as pets for two annas apiece. The Paroquet is 
the favourite cage bird in India; to have one in the house is considered 
lucky. Moreover, notwithstanding recent legislation, large numbers of 
green parrots' skins are exported from India l)y the plumage merchant. 
Thus man receives ample compensation for poor polly's larcenies. 
Pigeons. 
Doves and pigeons, like parrots, never eat insects. Some species 
subsist almost exclusively on fruit, others on grain. The fruit-eating kinds 
do but little damage, since they feed mostly on wild figs and other fruit of 
no use to man. The various species of dove affect groves and plantations of 
trees rather than cultivated fields, and I have never heard any complaints 
against them. The Blue Rock Pigeons (Columba intermedia) devour food 
grains, but, as a set-off, they are good birds for the table. They appear to 
be less abundant in India now than formerly. .Sportsmen keep down their 
numbers. I do not know of any place in India where pigeons are suffi- 
ciently numerous to do serious damage to the crops. 
Ghkse. 
There remain the geese. These certainly do damage to the green 
shoots of the various grain crops, but are so useful as food, and afford so 
much pleasure to the sportsman tliat their annual influx into India must be 
regarded as an asset of considerable value. The same may be said of the 
Common Quail, which feeds chiefly on grain. Thus, of the 1,600 species 
of birds found in India we can count on our fingers all those which, on 
further inquiry, ma\' prove to be the foes of the farmer. The vast majority 
are his very good friends, and should be encouraged by every possible 
means. 
Export of Plumage. 
In conclusion, a word on the expoitation of plumage. As most 
people are awai e, the Government of India passed, nearly six years ago, a 
measure prohibiting the export of plumage, otlier than Ostrich feathers, 
except as natural liistory specimens to museums. This Act was not passed 
in haste. Tlie question of the necessity for such legislation on account of 
tlie harm done to agriculture by the killing of useful birds, for the sake of 
their plumage, was raised as long ago as 1869. It was not until 1SS7 tliat 
legislative action was taken. The enactment of 1SS7 not proving sufficiently, 
efficacious, the more stringent Act of 1903 was passed. 
