Habits of the Ringdove* 329 



undeviating tenor of Nature's course. Those who approve of 

 such absurd aberrations from the line of instinct allotted to 

 birds, would do well to confine their studies to the romances 

 on their drawing-room tables. Let us hope that better days 

 are in store for ornithology ; and that when the ardent novice 

 shall turn over the pages which may be really intended for 

 his improvement in this fascinating study, he will find their 

 contents in unison with what he will observe afterwards in 

 Nature's boundless range. 



If size and beauty give a claim to priority, the ringdove 

 will hold the first place in the scanty catalogue of the wild 

 pigeons of Europe. It stays with us in Yorkshire the whole 

 of the year ; and, in the winter months, it resorts chiefly to 

 the turnip fields for sustenance, where it feeds voraciously on 

 the leaves, and not on the body, of the turnip. The leaves 

 are said to impart a rank and disagreeable taste to the flesh 

 of the bird ; but this is easily prevented by cutting open the 

 crop, as soon as the pigeon is killed, and discharging the 

 contents. White of Selborne recommends this process. 

 Towards evening the form of the ringdove becomes consider- 

 ably changed. Having fed on the turnip tops during the 

 course of the day, its crop gets so distended with food, that it 

 gives to the fore part of the pigeon's body a very full appear- 

 ance ; and this is easily discerned as the bird passes over your 

 head to its evening retreat. The contents of the stomach 

 having been digested during the night, we observe that the 

 body has regained its ordinary proportions at the break of day. 

 There has been a great increase of ringdoves during the 

 winter season, in this part of the country, since the farmers 

 have paid so much attention to the cultivation of turnips. On 

 seeing the congregated numbers of these birds, one is led to 

 imagine that there must be an annual influx of them, at the 

 close of autumn, from some far distant part. As the ringdove 

 is an unprotected bird, and much sought after on account of 

 the delicacy of its flesh, I have strong doubts whether our 

 breeding season can produce a sufficient supply to make up 

 the flocks which are seen here in winter. At all events, in 

 this quarter of Yorkshire very few young ringdoves are 

 allowed to escape. Farmers and gamekeepers are ever on 

 the look-out to transfer them from the nest to the kitchen. 

 These marauders are so perpetually upon the watch that it 

 has never yet been my lot to find a ringdove's nest in our 

 neighbouring woods with full-fledged young ones in it; 

 although I am continually in the habit of straying into them, 

 and looking for the nests with a careful and unwearied eye. 



