398 BRITISH BIRDS. 
trees a flat broad branch, usually near the trunk, is the site selected ; but 
in evergreens it is often placed near the end of the branches. The Ring- 
Dove will often rear its young close to houses, sometimes in the ivy growing 
over them or in a shrubin the garden. A pair used to breed every year in 
the tall elms in the playground of the Boys’ School at Bootham, just outside 
the walls of the city of York. Once, however, its young are safely reared, 
it quits the nesting-place, its disposition seems to change, and it does not 
reappear until the following breeding-season. In this respect it resembles 
the Missel-Thrush. The nest is rudely made, almost flat, and is merely 
composed of a few dead sticks so lightly interwoven that the eggs can 
often be seen through it from below. Sometimes a squirrel’s drey 
forms a good foundation ; and Dixon has known it lay on old Sparrow- 
Hawks’ nests and in those of the Magpie, without making any further 
provision. Dixon says that a favourite place for the nest is in the thick 
masses of branches which are so often an abnormal growth on wild cherry- 
trees; and he has seen its old nest in a large clump of mistletoe on a 
poplar tree. The birds often return yearly to the same tree, and if the old 
nest be still there often build on the top of it, or more frequently on 
a branch close by. The eggs are almost invariably two in number, never 
more ; but in some cases the bird will sit on a single egg. They are rather 
small for the size of the bird, elongated and oval in shape, and pure white. 
They are very smooth and more polished than the eggs of the Owls, but 
less so than those of the Woodpeckers. They vary in length from 1:7 to 
1°55 inch, and in breadth from 1°35 to 1:15 inch. As a rule, they are 
larger than those of the Rock-Dove and may be distinguished from those 
of the Stock-Dove by being much whiter. Both birds assist in incubating 
the eggs. 
Dixon writes :—‘‘ When the two young are hatched, the efforts of the old 
birds are taxed to the utmost to supply them with food; for, judging from 
the number of times the parents visit the nest, they are voracious feeders, 
‘which may account for the small number of eggs laid. Almost as regularly 
as the Rooks, the old Ring-Doves may be seen flying to and from their nest. 
They do not feed their young lke most other birds, but eject semi-digested 
food from the crop, the young eating from the open mouth of the parent. 
The young birds advance to maturity somewhat slowly ; but when they can 
fly they are abandoned by their parents, who often rear a second or even a 
third brood in the season, building a new nest for each brood. As an 
instance of the late breeding of this bird, I may mention that I have shot 
young birds in the middle of November that had certainly not left the 
nest more than a fortnight or ten days, for small particles of down were 
still adhering to many of the feathers. Before leaving the nesting-economy 
of this species, it is well to draw attention to the following facts :—The 
excrements of birds of the Pigeon tribe are of a peculiar nature and without 
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