STOCK-DOVE. 403 
rabbit-warrens, laying its eggs in their holes several feet from the entrance, 
often upon the bare sand or on a scanty nest of a few twigs. Other and 
more curious sites have been recorded. It has been known to lay its eggs 
on a cross-beam in the spire of a church, and repeatedly on the ground 
under a dense furze bush. It sometimes makes its scanty nest in a wood- 
stack in the forest ; and its eggs have been found laid on a very thick and 
dense Scotch fir-branch, with no other nest whatever. The nest of this 
bird, when it does make one, is usually composed of a few twigs, dry roots, 
heather-stalks, &c. The eggs of the Stock-Dove are never more than 
two in number, and are pale creamy white in colour—a characteristic 
which always distinguishes them from those of the Ring-Dove or the Rock- 
Dove. They vary in length from 1:5 to 1:4 inch, and in breadth from 
12 to 113 inch. Both birds assist in the task of incubation, but the 
female sits the most. The young are hatched in about eighteen days, and, 
as is usual in this group of birds, they remain in the nest for a considerable 
time, never quitting it until well able to fly. Afterwards they generally 
betake themselves to the neighbouring pastures, and the old birds rear a 
second or even a third brood. Fresh eggs of this species have been found 
as late as the beginning of October. 
The note of the Stock-Dove is not quite so melodious as that of the 
Ring-Dove, nor is it so distinct or prolonged. In autumn great numbers 
of Stock-Doves often congregate with Ring-Doves, and frequent the 
stubbles and newly sown lands. Dixon writes :—“In some parts of 
Lincolnshire the Stock-Dove is almost better known than the Wood- 
Pigeon, and occurs in even greater numbers than that well-known bird. 
I have often seen the large fields contain several flocks of this Dove, and 
mingled with them a small number of domestic Pigeons and a few Ring- 
Doves, easily distinguished by the white in the wings and their conspicuous 
collars. These broad farmlands are the Doves’ favourite pastures from 
the time the corn and beans are cut till the following spring. In such 
districts are numerous fir-plantations, and these are the nightly retreats of 
both species. I have sometimes watched them return from the fields just 
before dusk, and noticed how silently they dashed into the cover, the 
rattling of their wings amongst the branches being the only sound they 
made, for at this season they seldom or never coo. In autumn the Stock- 
Doves frequent the bean- and pea-fields, where they do considerable damage; 
but this they partly compensate for by consuming millions of tiny seeds 
of most noxious weeds, such as charlock. The bird often perches on the 
bean-stacks ; and in severe weather it will do so in the farmyards.” 
The food of the Stock-Dove consists chiefly of grain and seeds, but it 
does not appear to consume so many shoots of clover and grain as the 
Ring-Dove. It is also said to eat acorns and beach-mast, and sometimes 
berries. Stock-Doves are voracious feeders, and though they consume a 
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