RING DOVE. ~— 103 
fern on open commons, not too far from the neighbourhood of 
plantations, occur. The Night-jar can hardly be said to make a 
nest; but lays two eggs in any slight natural depression of the 
ground which she can find sufficiently near a bush or clump of 
whins to be at least partly concealed by it. The eggs are very 
oval in shape, and very beautifully mottled and clouded and 
’ veined with varying tints of blueish lead-colour and brown, on a 
whitish ground.—fig. J, plate VT. 
a 
III.—RASORHES. 
FAMILY I—COLUMBIDA. 
146. RING DOVE—(Columba paluimbus). 
Wood Pigeon, Ring Pigeon, Cushat, Cushie Doo, Queest.— 
This, the first bird in the new Order of Rasores, is tolerably well 
known to every one the least acquainted with ordinary country 
scenes and objects. A fine, handsome bird, met with every- 
where throughout the country, and, in many parts of it, seen in 
very large flocks in the winter time; sure to attract attention, 
also, as we walk through the wood, by the loud ringing clap of 
his wings as he takes flight; and all this independently of his 
plaintive murmur in the breeding season, sounding very sweet 
and mellow as heard from a little distance—the Wood Pigeon, 
or Queest, or Cushat, as he is named in different districts, is as 
prominent among wild birds as the parson of the parish among 
his parishioners. The young birds are frequently taken from the 
nest and reared by hand; and the bold, fearless, confiding fami- 
liarity of such pets, considering their extreme native shyness and 
wildness, is remarkable. The Ring Dove makes its rude plat- 
form 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 
