26 



PIGEONS 



when a pair were taken in County Down. At the present day it is 

 stated to be resident and increasing in parts of Leinster and Ulster. 



Although in the absence of a white patch on each side of the neck 

 the stock-dove presents some resemblance to the wood-pigeon in the 

 first plumage, it may be readily distinguished by its inferior size 

 (length 13.^ inches), the presence of two black patches, in place of 

 white bars, on the wings, and the pearly grey of the under wing-coverts. 



The young in first plumage 

 lack the black patches on 

 the wings, or have them 

 only partly developed. The 

 adult weighs from 12^ to 

 14^ oz., against from about 

 16 to 24 oz. in the wood- 

 pigeon. 



Accounts differ some- 

 what with regard to the 

 habits of the stock-dove, 

 one writer ^ stating that it is 

 much less gregarious than 

 the wood - pigeon, being 

 seldom found in flocks and 

 more often met with singly, 

 whereas a second - observes 

 that it is at all seasons a 

 .sociable bird, and in autumn 

 collects in large flocks. 

 The note is described as 

 that of the 

 The resorts 



NO WARD 8TU0I05 



STOCK-DOVK. 



harsher than 

 wood-pigeon. 



and nesting-places of the 

 stock-dove vary considerably. At Ventnor, in the Isle of Wight, as 

 well as at Flamborough Head, Yorkshire, and also in Dorsetshire, 

 it builds on cliffs (wooded at Ventnor), and hence has been mistaken 

 for the blue-rock. In other districts large trees, such as pollards or 

 old ivy-clad elms, form its favourite resorts, while in the open districts 

 of Suffolk and Norfolk deserted rabbit-burrows are chosen for the 

 nursery. Other nesting-sites are dense furze-bushes, while rarely the 

 deserted nest of a magpie or other large bird serves as a home for the 



' Sh.-irpe, Handbook of British Birds, vol. iv. p. 246. 

 ^ C. Dixon, Game-birds of British Isles, p. 7. 



