RINGDOVE. — STOCK-DOVE. 6ob 



nest, with, two eggs, being found in liis grounds at 

 Catton, on tlie 7th of September. Varieties of this bird 

 are but rarely met with, but one killed at Hoveton, 

 in 1861, was of a light cream-colour, blotched on the 

 upper parts with a pale slate grey ; and a very beautitul 

 specimen, pure white with the exception of two or 

 three feathers in one wing, was procured near Swaffham 

 a year or two back. This is the same bird recorded 

 in the "Field" of March 12th, 1864, as a great 

 curiosity, and is now, I believe, in the possession of Mr. 

 Anthony Hamond, juu. 



COLUMBA ^NAS, Linnseus. 



STOCK-DOVE. 



Although far less numerous, and more locally dis- 

 tributed than the last species, the Stock-dove is plentiful 

 enough at certain times of the year and in certain parts 

 of the county, particularly the north-eastern and south- 

 western districts. In the latter, with the exception of 

 about four months from the middle of September to the 

 middle of January, or even later if the winter be much 

 prolonged, it is found, if not in great abundance when 

 compared with other species, yet in sufficient numbers 

 to be one of the most characteristic birds of that open 

 country. During the latter part of the autumn and 

 beginning of winter, though not perhaps absolutely 

 wanting, yet it only occasionally appears, and then 

 generally flocked in com^Dany with ring-doves. The late 

 Mr. Salmon, with some show of justice, included it in 

 his list of migratory birds in the neighbourhood of 

 Thetford (Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist, ix., p. 520), though 

 from what I learn from other observers in that district 

 he seems to have made an assertion rather too sweeping 

 2 z 2 



