RASORES. 133 



the influence of the vernal sun, to expand its leaves, 

 the Ring Dove attacks the heart-shoot with fatal 

 severity ; and much address is required on the part 

 of the farmer to scare the birds from their favourite 

 food." * During the autumn and winter months the 

 Ring Dove feeds voraciously on turnip-tops and 

 varies its diet with peas, beans, acorns, and beech- 

 mast, and the berries of the hawthorn and holly. 



The few nests of the Ring Dove which I have 

 found in this county w^ere almost all placed in ivy- 

 covered trees ; but elsewhere I have remarked a 

 preference for fir-trees and thorns. 



This bird may always be distinguished from the 

 Stock Dove at a distance by its superior size and 

 conspicuous white collar. The two species are not 

 unfrequently found flocking together. 



A writer in ' The Intellectual Observer ' for April, 

 1865, says : " Of what race or descent, of what origin 

 or history, are the Guildhall pigeons ? I know not ; 

 but if any naturalist inquires after city birds, they 

 claim first mention, and might well have a place in the 

 civic emblazonment of arms. It is rarely any one has 

 the audacity to trap or lure a city pigeon. They 

 are as sacred as Storks in Holland, and the birds of 

 good omen that built in the temples and residences 

 of classic Greece." The ornithologist in London 



* Waterton's ' Essays in Nat. History,' 1st Series, p. 148. 



N 



