THE STOCK DOVE 207 
THE STOCK DOVE RY 
COLUMBA CENAS 
Head, throat, wings, and lower parts, bluish grey; the lower parts of the 
neck with metallic reflections, no white spots; breast wine-red; a black 
spot on the two last secondaries and some of the wing-coverts ; primaries 
grey at the base, passing into dusky; tail grey barred with black at the 
extremity, the outer feather with a white spot on the outer web near the 
base; irides reddish brown; bill yellow, red at the base; feet red; 
claws dusky. Length twelve and a half inches. Eggs white. 
Tue Stock Dove is by some persons supposed to be so called from 
its having been believed at one time to be the origin of the domestic 
Pigeon; but as it bore the name before the above question was 
mooted, it is more reasonable to suppose that it derived its name 
from its habit of nestling in the stocks of trees, and not on the 
branches like the Ring Dove, nor in caves like the Rock Dove. 
Ray and Willughby, who treat the domestic Dove as a dis- 
tinct species, gave it the name of (Enas (from the Greek oinos, 
wine), and Vinago (from the Latin vinum), from the purpled or 
wine-red hue of its breast and wings. Temminck does not hesi- 
tate to identify the domestic Pigeon with the Rock Dove, with- 
out even hinting the possibility of its having derived its origin 
from the Stock Dove. Since, therefore, the two birds have no 
marked resemblance, it may be reasonably supposed that the rela- 
tionship between them rests solely on the narrow foundation that 
there exists a wild Pigeon, popularly called a Stock Dove, and that 
the word ‘stock’ has among other meanings that of ‘ parentage’ 
or ‘origin’. Thus the name gave rise to a theory which, having 
a plausible show, was hastily assumed, and was then employed 
to prove a fact which will not bear the test of examination. 
The Stock Dove in its habits closely resembles the Ring Dove, 
from which it cannot easily be distinguished at a distance. When 
tolerably near, a sharp eye can detect the absence of the white 
patch on the wings and of the ring round the neck. Its flight is 
more rapid, and it rarely perches on a slender bough, preferring 
to alight on a main branch or stump. Its note is softer, and 
approaches that of the tame Pigeon. But the great mark of distinc- 
tion is that on which I have supposed its name to be founded ; that 
it does not build its nest among the branches of trees, but in the 
side of a stump, or other locality, where no one would even think 
of looking for a Ring Dove’s nest. Yarrell states that ‘ in the 
open counties of Norfolk and Suffolk, this species frequently 
makes its nest in holes in the ground, generally selecting a 
rabbit’s burrow’. It has greatly increased in the south of 
England of late, and it nests along the Moray and Doinock Firths, 
White, who had never seen its nest, says that it used to. be abundant 
at Selborne ‘from November to February’. Yarrel] saw two old 
