140 NATURAL HISTORY 
frequents coppices and groves, supports itself chiefly 
by mast, and delights to roost in the tallest beeches. 
Could it be known in what manner stock-doves 
build, the doubt would be settled with me at once, 
provided they construct their nests on trees, like 
the ring-dove, as I much suspect they do. 
You received, you say, last spring, a stock-dove 
from Sussex, and are informed that they sometimes 
build in that county. But why did not your cor- 
respondent determine the place of its nidification, 
whether on rocks, cliffs, or trees? If he was not an 
adroit ornithologist, I should doubt the fact, because 
people with us perpetually confound the stock-dove 
with the ring-dove. 
For my own part, I readily concur with you in 
supposing that house-doves are derived from the 
small blue rock-pigeon, for many reasons. In the 
first place, the wild stock-dove is manifestly larger 
than the common house-dove, against the usual rule 
of domestication, which generally enlarges the 
breed. Again, those two remarkable black spots 
on the remiges of each wing of the stock-dove, 
which are so characteristic of the species, would 
not, one should think, be totally lost by its being 
reclaimed, but would often break out among its de- 
scendants. But what is worth a hundred argu- 
ments is the instance you give in Sir Roger 
Mostyn’s house-doves in Caernarvonshire, which, 
though tempted by plenty of food and gentle treat- 
ment, can never be prevailed on to inhabit their 
cote for any time, but betake themselves to the 
fastnesses of Ormshead, and deposite their young 
in safety amid the inaccessible caverns and preci- 
pices of that stupendous promontory. 
