66 THE BIRDS OF DORSET. 



Sometimes two pairs will occupy the same burrow. 

 They also nest in the sea-clifFs, as satisfactorily 

 ascertained by Mr. Harting (Zoologist, 1865, p. 

 9670; and The Field, 14th April 1866). In winter 

 they may be seen in flocks, sometimes associating 

 with the Wood-Pigeon. 



ROCK-DOVE. Culiimha Jivia, Gmelin. 



Yarrell, iii. p. 13 ; Harting, p. 36 ; Dresser, vii. p. 11 ; Seebohm, 

 ii. p. 405 ; Ibis List, p. 139. 



The Rock-Dove is reported to breed about Port- 

 land, GadclifF, Whitenore, and St. Alban's Head, but 

 is rare. According to Mr. W. Thompson of Wey- 

 mouth, a pair bred in the fissure of a rock at 

 Whitenore in June 1853, and a specimen in my 

 collection was shot at Gadcliff, on the western side 

 of Kimmeridge Bay. 



In his account of a visit to the Dorsetshire coast 

 in the nesting season (Zoologist, 1865, p. 9670), Mr. 

 Harting thus refers to the Rock-Dove : — " Although 

 I was assured that the Rock-Dove breeds on this 

 coast, and that I should have little difficulty in 

 obtaining both birds and eggs, the only pigeons 

 which I saw were certainly not Columha Hvia; 

 they were either C. cenas or a cross between this 

 species and the wild domestic pigeon. They were 

 all similar in colour, and very dark ; but in every 

 case I looked in vain for the white-tail coverts — a 

 characteristic and distinguishing mark of C. livia. 

 These dark-coloured pigeons breed in the clifis, 



