124 lURDS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE. 



The nest is made of sticks, and is placed on a ledge of 

 rock, or in a cave. The eggs are two, and there are two 

 broods in the season, sometimes three. 



This bird is believed to be the original of all our domesti- 

 cated varieties, which it resembles in its preference for 

 stones and rocks as roosting places to trees. It has bred 

 and produced a fertile progeny with the common pigeon, 

 especially that variety known as the blue rock, which it 

 greatly resembles in appearance, but the latter is the 

 larger. However, domestic pigeons decrease in size, and 

 show a tendency to revert to the ancestral plumage, when 

 neglected by their owners. Length, 1 foot li or 2 inches. 

 It is frecjuentiy found breeding in companies, like the 

 domesticated breeds tiuit are descended from it. 



RiNG-DovE, or Wood Pigeon; also known as Cushat, 

 and Quest, or Wood Quest. — Bluish grey above, a vinous 

 red breast, and liMit grev on the under surface : on the 

 neck are a number of iridescent colours — red, purjde, blue, 

 and green — and a large patch of white, technically known 

 as the ring ; the tail is terminated by a broad band of 

 black ; the bill is orange yellow, with a tinge of red, and 

 has two little knobs that swell out in the breeding season, 

 and almost disappear during the winter ; the legs and feet 

 arc yellowish carmine. The female is smaller than the 

 male, has less iridescence, and the knobs on her upper 

 mandible are hardly perceptible. Length, 1 foot 6 inches. 



The ring-dove has increased in numbers of late years, in 

 spite of the persistent manner in which it is shot. It is 

 resident, and collects in flocks in the winter, which flocks, 

 at that time, are often augmented by the stock-dove, the 

 only other pigeon with which it voluntarily consorts in a 

 state of nature. It is thought that the native companies 

 are strengthened during the winter by migrants from the 

 Continent. 



