PIGEONS 125 



STOCK DOVE. Columba oenas, Linnseus. PI. 18, fig. 7. 

 Length, 13-5 in. ; wing, 8-5 in. ; tarsus, 1 in. 



A local resident, migrating to the south in winter. 

 In the different county faunas and local lists to which 

 reference has been made, this species has been vari- 

 ously characterised as follows : — Common through- 

 out the year in Norfolk ; a permanent resident in 

 Leicestershire ; breeds in Cheshire and in AVorcester- 

 shire ; very common in Shropshire ; resident in 

 Berks and Bucks ; resident in Middlesex, but more 

 numerous in autumn and winter ; resident and 

 common in the New Forest ; resident in Sussex ; 

 rare in Somerset ; a winter visitant in Devon ; rare 

 in Cornwall ; rare winter visitant in the Isle of 

 Wight, where, however, it has twice been found 

 nesting ; and twice obtained at Scilly. Until re- 

 cently it seems to have been unknown in Durham, 

 and farther north it is extremely rare (Ibis, 1878, 

 p. 382). In Northumberland, near Hexham, June 

 1872, April 24, 1873, and May 10, 1873. 



The extension northward of the range of this 

 bird during the last ten or a dozen years is note- 

 worthy. This has been particularly remarked by Mr. 

 Chapman in Northumberland (" Bird-life of the Bor- 

 ders," 1889, p. 145), and by Mr. Harvie-Brown (Ann. 

 Scot. Nat. Hist., 1894, p. 3). It has been met with 

 in Perthshire (Zool, 1884, p. 272), in East Lothian, 

 where it nested amongst the crags of Traprain Law 

 (Zool, 1887, p. 235), in Caithness (Harvie-Brown), 

 two or three times in Orkney, and once in Shetland. 



