A 4 BRITISH BIRDS 



first place the nesting arrangements of the two species are 

 totally different, as the Stock Dove for the most part 

 collects a few bits of stick at the bottom of a hole in a 

 tree trunk (stock, whence the name), or failing such will 

 deposit them on the bare ground under the shelter of a 

 clump of gorse or some more or less efficient cover. 



The eggs are also smaller and rounder than those of 

 the Ringdove, but they are hatched in about the same 

 time, that is to say between seventeen and eighteen days, 

 after the manner of all the members of the Dove family, 

 with one or two possible exceptions. The young squabs 

 are indistinguishable from their congeners, but the plumage 

 of the parent birds offers some marked contrasts. Thus, 

 the plumage of the Stock Dove is of a darker blue than 

 that of the Wood Pigeon and it has no white on the neck, 

 while the breast is of a ruddy vinous tint, whence the 

 specific name oenas, from the Greek "ot^o,-" wine, which 

 it is supposed to resemble in colour. The quills of the 

 wings and tail are black, or nearly so, and the latter are 

 marked by a light coloured patch about the centre, except 

 the centre pair, which are of a uniform dark colour through- 

 out; the bill and the legs and feet are orange-red, and 

 the iris is of almost the same shade. 



The female scarcely differs from the male in appearance, 

 but her breast is not quite so ruddy as his. White, mottled, 

 and liver-coloured specimens of the Stock Dove as well as 

 of the Wood Quest have now and then been seen and, as 

 a matler of course, shot. Toussenel, the author of a very 

 curious book called /' Ornithologie passionnelle, once saw 

 a white one paired with a male of the ordinary colour, and 

 at once jumped to the conclusion that she was "a Dove- 

 cote Pigeon," and that the two species interbred, which 

 they never do, all tales to the contrary having no better 

 foundation. 



The Stock Dove is very careful of its eggs, and instances 

 are recorded where it has suffered itself to be captured 

 rather than desert its charge. The male sits in the day- 

 time and the female at night, after the manner of all the 

 members of the Dove-pigeon family. There are usually 

 only two broods in one year, and the second is never 



