^84 COLUMBID^. 



its nest, says that it used to be abundant at Selborne " from 

 November to February." Yarrell saw two old birds ex- 

 posed for sale witb Eing Doves, in London, on the 4th 

 of January. The fact probably is, that it resorts in spring 

 to the neighbourhood in which it was bred, as a convenient 

 place for rearing its own young, and at the end of summer 

 repairs to woods and groves better adapted for supplying 

 it with its favourite food, acorns and beech-mast. There 

 it flocks together with Eing Doves, vast numbers of which 

 assemble in winter in some districts, and when the fowler 

 plies his occupation shares their fate. It is, however, by 

 no means so common a bird as the Eing Dove at any sea- 

 son, nor is it so generally distributed. In the North it is 

 certainly only a summer visitor ; and, on the other hand, 

 it is most abundant in the south of Europe and in Africa 

 during winter. 



THE EOCK DOYE. 



COLUMBA LIVIA. 



Plumage bluish ash, lighter on the wings ; rump white ; neck and breast lustrous 

 with green and purple reflections, without a white spot ; two transverse black 

 bands on the wings ; primaries and tail tipped with black ; rump white ; outer 

 tail-feather white on the outer web ; irides pale orange ; bill black ; feet red. 

 Length twelve and a half inchas. Eggs white. 



The Eock Dove, though a bird of extensive range, is less 

 generally known in its natural condition than either of 

 the other British species. As its name imports, its favourite 

 place of resort is the rocky coast ; but this it frequents, 

 not because it has any predilection for the sea-shore and 

 its productions, but that its instincts teach it to make 

 lofty rocks its stronghold, just as the natural impulse of 

 the Eing Dove is to find safety in the forests. If, as is 

 now generally admitted, this species is the original of all 

 the numerous varieties of tame Pigeon, it muvst inhabit 

 most countries of the eastern hemisphere ; for a pigeon- 



