DOVES 233 



Now, there is little doubt that all varieties of 

 tame pigeons, ranging from the tall, upright pouter 

 to the minute, short-faced tumbler, with all the 

 intermediate differences of colour and form, are 

 the result of artificial selection brought to bear upon 

 a race which for thousands of years has been under 

 the dominion of man; and it is further clear that 

 the original stock, the typical pigeon from which 

 all these gradations arose, was a species at any rate 

 closely allied to the Stock- and Rock-doves as we 

 know them to-day. 



In addition to the nesting sites named, the Stock- 

 dove frequents wooded inland cliffs, and much 

 confusion has been brought about by its habit of 

 consorting with the true Rock-doves in the crags 

 by the sea-coast. 



It is certain that many rock-dwellers on the En or- 



o 



lish sea-line are really Stock-doves, and even in 

 localities where the wild Rock-dove is known to 

 exist, it is not always easy to distinguish it with 

 certainty. In the white cliffs of Bempton and 

 Speeton, near Flamborough, which lie before my 

 window as I write, great numbers of pigeons con- 

 gregate, nesting together in the caves. In a mixed 

 bag of these, one finds the Stock-doves and Rock- 

 doves in about equal proportions, but with the 

 birds which have all the characteristics of the true 

 Rock-dove, are pigeons with checkered wings, and 

 sometimes mottled with buff and white, plainly 

 showing their farmhouse origin. As in the dove- 

 cotes in the neighbourhood, domesticated Blue 

 Rocks are found which differ in no respect from 

 the wild pigeons of the Shetlands or the Achill 



