146 BIRD-LIFE OF THE BORDERS. 



This nest was subsequently deserted. I should, however, 

 add that on the moors I have known of the Stock-doves nest- 

 ing regularly for a much longer period than the dates above 

 mentioned. They arrive there in March, and nest in crags 

 and under boulders, out on the open moor. 



During the present winter we have again had the Stock- 

 doves ; but it has been an unusually bad season for pigeons 

 generally, and the number obtained is insufficient to form a 

 criterion as to whether we can regard the influx of Stock-doves 

 as permanent. Of the Wood-pigeons, the only arrival of any 

 note occurred on December 28, when very great numbers 

 appeared. It was a squally, boisterous day, wind west or 

 south-west, and all the morning, commencing at 8 a.m., the 

 pigeons kept pouring in in packs of a score or two up to 

 hundreds. The packs appeared at frequent intervals, all 

 coming from the eastward, apparently direct off the sea 

 (three miles distant). They were all clean, light-coloured 

 birds, making the woods look quite white where they perched; 

 but, though I carefully abstained from molesting them, thej' 

 all passed on westward at night. 



