Mr J. A. Harvie-Brown on the Stockdove. 253 



in milder weather. It must be considered a resident, no less 

 than five nests having been known to exist on Middleton 

 Estate, Beltbrd, in 1880 {auct. John Aitchison, Fruc. Berw. 

 Nat. Field Club, 1881, p. 562). 



That this species has occurred and does occur at the pre- 

 sent time in Scotland in much larger numbers than have 

 been reported, I think there can be scarcely any doubt. It 

 is lack of observation, not lack of specimens, that is to blame 

 for an imperfect sequence of occurrences, say between 1875 

 and the present time. Hundreds of '' Norwegian pigeons " 

 and wood pigeons are killed every year in the eastern coun- 

 ties of Scotland, both in spring and autumn ; and the ques- 

 tion naturally arises, how many of these, taken perhaps on a 

 superficial examination as young wood pigeons, might not 

 really have proved to be, on more careful inspection, speci- 

 mens of the stockdove ? I believe the stockdove to be at 

 present a much more common species in Scotland than is 

 generally supposed, and much more widely distributed ; and 

 this could be easily, I believe, ascertained if any competent 

 ornithologist would make a point of examining the great 

 numbers which crowd the markets in spring and autumn. 

 At the same time, its progress northwards, and its increasing 

 extension, are none the less certain, and distinctly traceable, 

 though many of the links in the chain of evidence have been, 

 so to speak, imperfectly forged. 



In Dumfriesshire and the south-west of Scotland the stock- 

 dove appears to have been a breeding species for several years 

 at all events, if not for a much longer period. Mr J. J. 

 Armistead has met with it breeding in Kirkcudbrightshire, 

 and has noticed that a few of these birds have visited the 

 Colvend shores annually, and frequent the cliffs. Mr Armi-' 

 stead has seen them himself for the past three years, and he 

 relates that the natives say that they have always bred along 

 shore (the natives call them rockdoves, but the bird is 

 Columha cenas, with which Mr Armistead is perfectly familiar). 

 Mr Armistead has also met with them in Cumberland, where 

 he has known them to breed in rabbit-holes among the sand- 

 hills on the Cumberland shore. They do not appear to pass 

 far inland. 



