404: BRITISH BIRDS. 
good deal of grain, and are thus rather troublesome to the farmer, they 
also keep the weeds in check. The flesh of this bird is prized as an article 
of food; and in some districts it is regularly caught for the table. 
Professor Newton states that in the warren districts the keepers add con- 
siderably to their incomes by catching the Doves which breed in the 
rabbit-holes, and that they keep a dog trained to discover the holes in which 
they breed. In winter the Stock-Dove wanders about in search of food, 
but there is no evidence to show that it ever leaves this country. 
The Stock-Dove appears to have derived its name from its habit of 
nesting on the stocks of trees, and not, as some of the earlier ornithologists 
imagined, from its being considered the stock or origin from which our 
domestic Pigeons have descended. 
The Stock-Dove bears a general resemblance to the Ring-Dove, but is 
somewhat smaller, and has no white on the sides of the neck or on the 
wing-coverts and edges of the primaries ; the lavender-pink of the under- 
parts is also confined to the upper breast. The pale subterminal band 
across the tail is narrower, and is ill-defined from the lavender base of 
the tail by an obscure dark bar. The most important feature to distinguish 
it from the Rock-Dove is the dark brown patches on some of the wing- 
coverts and innermost secondaries, which form a rudimentary wing-bar in 
strong contrast to the well-defined wing-bar of the Rock-Dove. The bill 
and feet do not differ from those of the Ring-Dove, but the irides are 
red. Adult females and males of the year differ in having less metallic 
gloss on the neck and less pink on the breast. Young in first plumage 
have no metallic colours on the neck or pink on the breast, the rudimentary 
wing-bars are almost absent, and the general colour of their plumage is 
browner. 
