176 THE BIRDS OF SHERWOOD FOREST, 
jarring note for a long space together, without seeming 
to draw breath,’ considering that the two notes are 
sounded during one expiration; but I have frequently 
heard their “jar” sustained for two, three, and some- 
times four minutes, and I cannot conceive it could do 
shis without taking breath; yet it is easily accounted for 
if my conjecture is correct. At any rate, the alternation 
of the two notes is so constant that it seems strange it 
has never been noticed. 
I believe this jarring note is invariably uttered when 
the bird is perching, and never when it is on the wing, 
and it is not commenced for a week or ten days after its _ 
arrival. It has another short, sharp note, like the sylla- 
ble “dek,” which it utters during flight, and especially 
when any one approaches its haunts. 
The eggs are usually marbled with light brown and ash 
colour on a white ground; but in 1856 I took two from 
a mossy hollow on the forest, in which the ground colour 
was yellowish white, marked with distinct spots of ash 
colour and brown without any streaks or marblings, the 
spots being accumulated at one end,and forming an irregu- 
lar zone. At the time I found them the female was on 
the eggs, and sat immovably until I was within two yards 
of her, when she flew off, feigning lameness at first, and 
afterwards flew around me for some minutes as if 
desirous of intimidating me: 
Of the family of the Columbide, three species are all 
that I can number—viz., the Ring Dove (C. palumbus), 
the Stock Dove (C. nas), and the Turtle Dove (C.turtur). 
Amongst our numerous woods and plantations the 
ring dove is plentifully distributed. It is an indiscrimi- 
nate feeder on seeds of every kind; and, though well 
provided with abundance of beech-mast and acorns, it 
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