124 OUR POJfESTIC FOWLS. 



the same ; the principal variations consisting 

 in the colour of the rump, -which, in the stock- 

 dove, is invariably bluis^i grey, but in the rock- 

 dove generally white, in the two distinct 

 bands of bai's (of black) crossing the wings of 

 the latter bird, and in the colour of the breast 

 and belly, which, in the former bird (stock- 

 dove) is more of a purplish red. The dis- 

 similarity of their habits, however, marks 

 even more strongly the specific difference be- 

 tween them, than the proofs drawn from the 

 plumage, the stock-dove being a constant 

 inhabitant of the woods, and frequently the 

 interior of the country ;* but the species 

 under consideration is in its wild state always 

 met with inhabiting rocky places, and these 

 principally on the sea-coast." 



White, in his natural history of Selborne, 

 clearly distinguishes between the stock-dove 

 which frequents the beech-woods, and the 

 rock-dove. " For my own part (he says in a 

 letter to Pennant) I readily concur with you 

 in supposing that house-doves are derived 

 from the small blue rock -pigeon for many 

 reasons. In the first place, the wild stock- 

 dove is manifestly larger than the common 



* It is migratory. 



