228 BIRDS OF TUNISIA 



are then very devoted to each other and to their offspring, and both 

 appear to take an equal share in the incubation of the eggs. Like 

 other Doves the Wood-Pigeon has a large appetite and may be called 

 a voracious feeder. It will eat almost any kind of seed or grain, pulse, 

 acorns, beech-mast, and the tender roots and shoots of plants. It 

 also drinks copiously, and is fond of bathing in water. 



Its flight is graceful as well as powerful and capable of being 

 sustained for a long time. When suddenly surprised, it dashes out of 

 a tree with a great clapping of its wings. 



Its note is a soft deep " coo-i-oo- coo-coo," and is one of the few 

 sounds that enliven the stillness of most forests. 



The Wood-Pigeon in Tunisia commences breeding in April and 

 usually rears two broods. Its nest is a slight platform of sticks, 

 loosely put together, and on this frail structure are deposited two pure 

 white eggs, measuring about 40 x 30 mm. 



COLUMBA (ENAS, Linnaus. 

 STOCK-DOVE. 



Columba cenas, Liiin. Faun. Succ. p. 75 (1761) ; Salvadori, Cat. Birds 

 Brit. Mas. xxi, p. 261; Malherbe, Cat. Bais. d'Ois. Alg. p. 18 (1846) ; 

 Koeniij, J. f. 0. 1888, p. 251 ; Whitaker, Ibis, 1898, p. 126. 



Palumboena columbella, Loche, Expl. Sci. Alg. Ois. ii, p. 113 (1867). 



Dcscrijition. — Adult male, winter, from North Tunisia. 



Upper plumage generally bluish-slate, lighter on the head and rump, and 

 browner on the back and scapulars ; nape and sides of the neck glossed with 

 metallic-green ; quills blackish ; two small and somewhat indistinctly formed 

 black bars on the secondaries and upper wing-coverts ; tail broadly tipped 

 with black ; breast vinous-purple ; rest of uuderparts bluish-grey. 



Iris hazel; eyelids bluish-grey; bill red at the base and yellow at the tip; 

 feet coral-red. 



Total length 13-50 inches, wing 8-50, culmen -85, tarsus 1-15. 



Adult female similar to the male, but rather smaller and duller in 

 coloration. 



The Stock-Dove is not very common in Tunisia, but is to be met 

 with occasionally in winter, and examples of it are sometimes to be 

 found in the Tunis market. It possibly nests in the Eegency, as it 

 appears to do so in Algeria and Marocco. 



