158 EGGS OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



THE STOCK DOVE. 

 (Columba arnas.) 



Plate 47, Fig. 7. 



The Stock Dove is generally, though locally, distributed through- 

 out the whole of England and Wales. It is a resident in the 

 extreme west of the Palaearctic region, but to the colder portions 

 of its range it is only a summer visitor. In Scandinavia it breeds 

 up to lat. 62° ; in West Bussia it is very rarely found north of 

 St. Petersburg, and in the Ural Mountains it is not known to 

 breed north of lat. 57°. 



Its nesting-site varies considerably according to the nature of 

 the district. By the end of March the birds are in pairs, and the 

 eggs are laid during the last half of April. In places where there 

 are no hollow trees the Stock Dove often rears its young in the 

 old nest of a Magpie or a Crow ; or in the dense ivy growing over 

 trees or buildings. It makes a most rudimentary nest, and in 

 some cases the decaying wood is the only bed for the eggs. 



The eggs are never more than two in number, and are pale 

 creamy -white in colour — a characteristic which always dis- 

 tinguishes them from those of the Eing Dove. They vary in 

 length from 1*5 to 1*4 inch, and in breadth from 1*2 to 1"13 

 inch. 



THE BOCK DOVE. 



{Columba livia.) 

 Plate 47, Fig. 9. 



The Bock Dove breeds on the coasts of Great Britain, Ireland, 

 and all the adjacent islands, even including the distant St. Kilda, 

 wherever the rocks are precipitous enough to give it protection, 

 and provide suitable breeding -places for it in their recesses. 

 The range of this species is much wider than that of any other 

 British Dove, extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific ; and its 

 exact limits are very difficult to determine, in consequence of the 

 impossibility of discriminating between wild birds and those which 

 have been, or are, in a semi-domesticated state. 



It is a very early breeder, its eggs being often laid by the middle 

 of March ; and as it rears two, if not three or four, broods in a 

 season, fresh eggs may be obtained from that month till August 



