LITTORAL LAND BIRDS. 275 
The breeding season of the Stock Dove begins 
in April, and extends over the entire summer into 
the succeeding autumn. When resorting to maritime 
cliffs, the nest is often placed amongst ivy, in a 
rabbit burrow, or in a crevice of the cliffs, and is 
a mere platform of twigs, roots, or straws. In 
many cases a nest is dispensed with altogether. 
The two eggs are creamy-white, smooth, and 
polished. In inland localities a hole in a tree, or 
the deserted drey of a squirrel, or old nest of a 
Crow or Magpie, is usually selected. Several broods 
are reared in the season. This Dove is one of 
those species that is rapidly extending its area of 
distribution in our islands ; the trend of its advance, 
however, being always northerly. Outside our 
limits the Stock Dove is found over most parts of 
Europe and North-West Africa, eastwards to the 
Caucasus and Asia Minor. 
HERON. 
Although this bird, the Ardea cinerea of most 
writers, is usually associated with fresh and inland 
waters, it is frequently enough met with along the 
coast, especially about estuaries, salt-marshes, and 
such portions of the shore where pools are left by 
the tide amongst the rocks at low water. More- 
over, it sometimes establishes its colonies on marine 
cliffs, or in woods adjoining the sea. Although of 
recent years considerably reduced in numbers, the 
Heron still justifies the prefix of “Common,” which 
