PIGEONS. 



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complacent cooing, '■^coo-goo-roo, coo-^oo-roo-o-o-o^'' xs heard in every direction ; 

 and with a very sHght search its nest may be found. It is a strange nest, and 

 hardly deserving that name, being nothing more than a mere platform of sticks 

 resting upon the fork of a bough, and placed so loosely across each other, that 

 when the parent bird is away the light may sometimes be seen through the 

 interstices of the nest, and the outline of the eggs made out. Generally the 

 ring-dove chooses a rather lofty branch for its resting-place, but it occasion- 

 ally builds at a very low elevation. 



The Stock-Dove {Columba aiias) is said to derive its name from being, 

 as was presumed, but erroneously, the stock from which the common pigeon 

 is descended. In our island the stock-dove limits its range almost exclusively 



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Fig. i6i.— The V.'ood Pigeon {Colnmha Pahunliis). 



to the midland counties. This bird makes a nest of twigs in the holes of 

 decayed and time-worn trees, and in the cavities on the top of pollards, but 

 never places it on the forked or spreading branches. 



The Rock-Dove {Columba livia) is the true progenitor of our domestic 

 breed. As its name imports, it frequents rocks and precipices, especially along 

 the sea-coast, and is far from being uncommon. It is partial to deep caverns, 

 in which it breeds. Sometimes it may be seen frequenting the steeples of 

 churches near, and numbers inhabit the holes and crevices in the higher parts 

 of, Canterbury Cathedral. In the latter instance it may be said that the birds 

 aremerely the emancipated descendants of our domestic breed. If so, with 

 their freedom they have regained their genuine colours. The rock-dove is more 



