176 ROCK-DOVE. 



Darwin, in his work on " The Variation of Plants and 

 Animals under Domestication," has so fully treated of Pigeons 

 and their varieties, that it is the text-book on the subject to 

 which all must resort who are specially interested in this subject. 

 He makes one curious observation with reference to the coloration 

 of Pigeons, which must be noticed. He says, " there seems to be 

 some relation between the croup being blue or white, and the 

 temperature of the country inhabited by both wald and dovecot 

 Pigeons ; for nearly all the dovecot Pigeons in the northern 

 parts of Europe have a white croup like that of the wild 

 European Rock-Pigeon; and nearly all the dovecot Pigeons of 

 India have a blue croup like that of the wild Columba intermedia 

 of India." 



The Rock-Dove is a resident British species, and its favourite 

 haunts are in the deep caverns and dark recesses of the rocks on 

 the sea-coast. It is comparatively rare inland, a fact due, most 

 probably, to the scarcity of the localities suited to it. In 

 Herefordshire, it breeds at the Stanner Rocks, near Kington 

 ("Transactions of the Woolhope Club," 1869), and also at the 

 Cw^m^y-oy Rocks, at the Black Mountains, on the borders of the 

 county. The Stock-Dove, or the dovecot Pigeons which will 

 sometimes take up their residence in rocks, are liable to be 

 mistaken for this species. 



The Rock-Dove, with its tame descendants, and indeed all 

 the Pigeon tribe, pair for life, lay two eggs, and sit for three weeks, 

 the male and female birds relieving each other on the nest. Hence 

 has arisen the old Scottish saying, " A doo's cleckin " for a family of 

 only two children, a boy and a girl ;— or " a pigeon pair," as they 

 are called in some districts of England. 



The principal food of the Rock-Dove is grain, seeds of weeds, 

 wild mustard, or charlock seeds, roots of coarse grass, and green 

 leaves. It also takes the small snails within the shells, Helix 

 ericetorum, and Bulimus acutus, which abound in the sandy 

 pastures near the sea. 



