ROCK-DOVE. 339 



The upper parts of the adult bird are lavender or bluish 

 grey, the wings darker, and the white-bordered quills greyish 

 brown. On the neck, which is shot with green and purple, are 

 large white patches, and the white bar on the wing shows when 

 the bird is at rest as a patch on the angle. The breast is 

 vinaceous, shading to pale lavender on the abdomen. The 

 upper surface of the tail is blaekish, but the under has a blue- 

 grey subterminal bar. The bill is yellow, red at the base, and 

 white over the nostrils ; the legs are red, often tinged with 

 purple, and the irides yellow. The young bird has at first 

 no \vhite on the neck, and the wing bar is suffused with blue. 

 Length, 16-5 ins. Wing, 9*5 ins. Tarsus, 1*3 ins. 



Rock-Dove. Columha livia Gmelin. 



The Rock-Dove (Plate 149) has a restricted range in western 

 and southern Europe and Mediterranean countries ; in our 

 islands it is a local resident, even in Scotland, Ireland, and the 

 western and northern isles, where it abounds in suitable places. 

 It is plentiful on the Yorkshire cliffs, rare in Cornwall and 

 Devon, and its present status in Cumberland is doubtful, bui 

 colonies of considerable size are scattered along the Welsh 

 cliffs. It appears almost to have deserted Anglesey and the 

 Isle of Man. All its haunts are maritime, and confusion with 

 the Stock-Dove probably accounts for reports from inland 

 locahties ; in Yorkshire the "dimmers" call it the "Rock- 

 Pigeon," to them the Stock is the " Rock-Dove." This bird 

 is the "Blue Rock" from which our domestic breeds are 

 descended, and not only will the wild bird visit and feed with 

 tame birds about the farms, but, pairing with them, induces 

 them to cast off" the fetters of domesticity. I have seen these 

 wild "tame" birds flying with the Flamborough Rocks, and an 

 undoubted "chequer" evidently mated with a wild bird in a 

 cave in Scotland. 



