RINGED DOVE, OR CUSHAT. 263 



and ptarmigans, the shedding of the phimage is a very gradual 

 operation. 



Habits. — The Ringed Dove reposes on the larger branches 

 of tall trees, especially beech, ash, and pine, in hedge-rows, 

 avenues, or plantations, whence it issues at sunrise, to search the 

 open fields for its food, which consists of seeds of the cultivated 

 cereal grasses, — wheat, barley, and oats ; as well as of legumi- 

 nous plants, — beans and pease ; and of the field mustard and 

 charlock. In spring it also feeds on the leaves of the turnip, and 

 picks the young blades of the red and the white clovers. At 

 this season, I have several times found its crop distended with 

 the farinaceous roots of Potentilla anserina, obtained in the 

 ploughed fields. This root is highly nutritious, and formerly, 

 in seasons of scarcity, was collected in the West Highlands and 

 Hebrides as an article of food, and eaten either boiled, or roasted 

 in the peat ashes. In summer they eat grasses and other vege- 

 table substances ; in autumn grain, beech masf, acorns, and 

 leguminous seeds. The beech-nuts and acorns they swallow 

 entire, their bill not being sufficiently strong tohreak them up. 



The species is generally distributed, being 7 3und in all the 

 more or less wooded districts of England and Scotland ; but it 

 prefers cultivated tracts, avoiding those which are bare and 

 rocky ; and as it does not repose at night on rocks, it is not 

 met with in the unwooded isles of the north. In winter it 

 appears in large flocks, sometimes amounting to many hundreds, 

 when the individuals of a district congregate in some favourable 

 locality, although in ordinary circumstances it is not so decid- 

 edly gregarious as the Rock Dove. It has a strong and rapid 

 flight, performed by quick beats of the half-extended wings, 

 with occasional intermissions, its pinions sounding as it glides 

 along ; and when on an excursion to a distant part, it flies 

 high above the trees, whereas the species just mentioned gene- 

 rally proceeds at a small elevation. A\'hen it has espied a 

 place likely to afford a supply of food, it alights abruptly, and 

 usually stands for a short time to look about, after which it com- 

 mences its search. On the ground its position is a little declined, 

 the tail nearly touching the surface ; and, when feeding, owing 



