EING DOVE — STOCK DOVE. 123 



i886j Mr. A. H. Macpherson saw, among" a flock near Oxford, 



one wliich appeared nearly pure white, and on the 26th 



October, in the same year, a very pretty variety (now in IMr. 



J. Whitaker^s collection at Rain worth Lodge, near Mansfield) 



was shot near Banbuiy and brought to me. In this specimen 



the mantle and wings are dove-coloured, mottled with a little 



white, tail brownish, and the lower part of the back a delicate 



lavender; otherwise the plumage is normal and the metallic 



sheen on the neck is very fine. 



\ '*' i ■ 

 THE STOCK DOVE. I ^ ^ 



Columha oenas. 



The Stock Dove is a resident species, locally common, 

 breeding numerously in the wooded parks at Blenheim, 

 Nuneham (where it is excej)tionally abundant), Sarsden, 

 Broughtou, etc., and freely also in all the well-timbered parts 

 of the county. It is rather a familiar species in the breed- 

 ing season, frequently nesting in hollows in the ornamental 

 timber which stands round so many of our country houses ; a 

 few pairs inhabit the gardens of St. John^s and Trinity Colleges 

 in Oxford, breeding in the former, while others find a home 

 in the old elms round Kingham Church (W. W. Fowler), and 

 numerous other similar locaHties could be cited. With us 

 the Stock Dove usually deposits its eggs in hollows in timber 

 trees, and in the heads of pollard ashes and willows, going to 

 nest early in the spring. 



Although often seen in winter, even in severe weather, it is 

 probable that the larger number of these birds leave us at that 

 season. 



The range of the Stock Dove in England has become more 

 extensive of late years, and its numbers have increased con- 

 siderably in many parts of the country ; to some extent this 

 appears to have been the case in Oxfordshire. The Messrs. 

 Matthews, writing in 1 849, say that it was ' occasionally seen 

 in this neighboui'hood at all seasons, and its nest has sometimes 



