43 



different from that of spring, for after the autumn moult, the upper 

 parts become ashy-brown and the under parts white. The flight is 

 very strong and rapid, and the movements both on and below the 

 surface of the water are active and varied, though slow and awkward 

 on land. Fish, which mainly form its food, are captured by diving, 

 and subsequently brought to the surface and swallowed. The nest, 

 generally situated close to the water's edge, consists of merely a hollow 

 in the ground, with little or no lining, either on some grass grown 

 island, or on the mainland. Two olive-brown eggs, spotted with black 

 (see British Bird Egg Cabinet, drawer 24) are laid in May. 



Case 2 18. 



TURTLE DOVE {Turtur communis). 



A summer visitor generally arriving about the beginning of May and 

 departing in September. Its numbers seem to be yearly increasing and 

 it is now found in many localities in which it was formerly entirely 

 absent. Although a few years ago it was hardly known in Cheshire, it 

 is now a common summer visitor to most parts of Wirral. The flat, 

 slightly constructed nest of twigs is placed in a thick bush, usually at no 

 great height from the ground, and the two white eggs (see British Bird 

 Egg Cabinet, drawer 17) are laid towards the end of May. The nest 

 here shown was collected at Heswall, Cheshire, in 1911. 



Case 219. 



RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE {Caccahis rufa). 



This species is now a local resident in the eastern and midland 

 counties and is gradually extending its range in all directions. They 

 are very partial to hedgerows or edges of plantations and long grass or 

 rushes, and when flushed, occasionally perch on a neighbouring tree, 

 which the grey partridge is believed never to do. The nest is merely a 

 hollow scratched in the ground under the shelter of a hedge or of tall 

 herbage. The eggs (see British Bird Egg Cabinet, drawer 18), ten to 

 eighteen in number, are pale stone colour or buff, more or less thickly 

 spotted — sometimes blotched, with dark reddish brown. 



Case 220. 



ROCK DOVE {Columha livia). 



This species is resident and common along the rocky coasts in the 

 north of Great Britain and Ireland, where caves and deep fissures exist, 

 and afford suitable resorts. Somewhat similar in size and weight to the 

 Stock Dove, it may be distinguished by the white rump (instead of blue). 



