308 Townsend, Notes on the Rock Dove. [july 



The Rock Dove is common wherever caves or deep fissures exist 

 on the rocky coasts of Scotland and Ireland, in the Shetlands, 

 Orkneys, Hebrides and Faroes. In England, according to Howard 

 Saunders, 1 it is " very local in Devonshire, and only a few frequent 

 the cliffs of Cornwall. It can be traced along the coast of Wales, 

 and at one spot in Cumberland, as well as the Isle of Man, while 

 on the eastern seaboard it is found at Flamborough Head and 

 in Northumberland. Birds, — apparently wild, — sometimes fre- 

 quent holes in cliffs inland as well as on the coast, but they are open 

 to the suspicion of being partially domesticated individuals which 

 have reverted to a wild state, or descendants of such." In Scandi- 

 navia the Rock Dove is rare and local and it is uncommon in the 

 rest of Europe except in the mountains of Portugal, Spain and 

 Italy. Darwin pointed out that as one goes south and east the 

 rump changes in color from white to blue. Hudson 2 says of the 

 Rock Dove: "In its language, flight, and habits it is indistinguish- 

 able from the bird familiar to every one in a domestic state." 

 Selby 3 says that it " is never known under any circumstances to 

 affect the forest or perch upon a tree." Saunders 4 says "It has a 

 marked objection to settling on trees — a peculiarity which is still 

 shared by its domesticated relatives." In the British Isles it 

 nests from April to September, and lays two sets of two eggs each. 



The courtship of the Rock Dove is the same in our city streets 

 as on wild rocky coasts. It may be seen here nearly every pleasant 

 day from January to December. The male coos long and fre- 

 quently, and expresses himself in the syllables coo-roo-coo or cock- 

 a war, the last syllable in either case much prolonged. He stretches 

 his neck now up, now down and, with puffed out breast, displays to 

 full advantage his brilliant iridescent feathers. His tail is spread 

 and scrapes stiffly on the ground and his wings are drooped slightly. 

 At times the amorous bird advances and retreats, pirouettes now 

 this way now that, in order that the meek and apparently indiffer- 

 ent female — actually slightly smaller but now very noticeably 

 smaller — may be duly impressed. At times he makes little 



1 Manual of British Birds, 18S9, p. 471. 



2 British Birds, 1902, p. 262. 



3 The Naturalist's Library, Ornithology, 1835, vol. V, part III, p. 147. 



4 loc. cit. 



