FOR CAGES AND A VI ARIES. 37 



The female is not as large as the male, and the black 

 on her head and face has little or none of the green 

 shade visible on him in certain lights. 



The Ring-Necked Diver. See Great Northern Diver. 



THE DOTTEREL. See under Plovers. 



THE RINGED DOTTEREL. See Plover (Ringed). 



THE GREAT DOUCKER. See Diver (Great Nor. 

 them). 



THE DOVES AND PIGEONS. 



The Ringdove. 



This bird is also known by the names of Wood Pigeon, 

 Wood Quest, Cushat, Queest, and probably by other local 

 names : it is also asserted, on the authority of Morris, to 

 be the Ysguthan of the Ancient British. It may be that 

 the name by which it is most generally known, namely 

 that of Ringdove, is not particularly applicable to it, but 

 there it is, and it only leads to confusion to give the same 

 designation to a foreign species, that is, to the Barbary 

 Turtle (Turtur risorius}, a practice that cannot be too 

 strongly condemned. 



Not only is the Ringdove a British species, but it oc- 

 curs all over Europe, and, it is said, in Northern Asia and 

 Northern Africa. It has considerably increased in num- 

 bers in this country of late years, and is almost the only 

 bird that has done so, the other possible exceptions being 

 the Starling and the common House Sparrow. 



