Their Eggs and Nests. 143 



familiarity of such pets, considering their extreme 

 native shyness and wildness, is remarkable. The 

 Ring Dove makes its rude platform nest of sticks, 

 with a cushion of roots to receive the eggs, in bushes 

 standing singly or in hedges or woods, in pollard 

 trees, in holly or other thick trees, in evergreens in 

 gardens and the like ; and nothing is more common 

 than to see the parent birds frequenting the garden 

 and close vicinity of a country house, almost as tamely 

 as if they were a pair of common or house Pigeons. 

 The eggs seem to be invariably very oval in shape, 

 and purely white. They are 1| inch long, by J inch 

 broad. 



STOCK T>ONY.—{Columba ccnas\ 



Stock Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Wood Dove. — This 

 Dove is not only, generally speaking, much less 

 abundant throughout the country than the Ring 

 Dove, but very often, it would seem, confounded with 

 it by casual observers, who only notice the several 

 birds from a distance, or on the wing. They frequent 

 the same roosting- places, and often feed in the same 

 field, though probably on different species of food. I 

 have shot birds of both species at the same discharge 

 of the gun, and have noticed the different matters 

 which had supplied their meals of the day, — Holly- 

 berries, in the case of the Ring Dove ; wild mustard- 

 seed, in the other. The Stock Dove is, however, 

 immediately and easily distinguishable from the Ring 

 Dove, by its lesser size, a slight difference in colour, 

 and the entire absence of the " ring " of white feathers 

 on the neck. Its nest is placed sometimes on pollard 



