STOCK DOVE 



PLATE CXXXIV. FIGURE II. 

 Columba anas, LINNAEUS. 



TH E Stock Dove is rather an early breeder, usually laying 

 in April. 



The nest, which is flat and shallow a mere layer of 

 twigs slightly put together is often placed on the ground in 

 an old deserted rabbit burrow, on the bare sand or earth, a 

 few sticks being occasionally used ; and in such places under 

 furze and other bushes, where the surface is hollowed ; also, 

 ordinarily, in any suitable holes in trees, or clefts, and in 

 pollard tops and matted ivy. The same hole is resorted to 

 again. A second and sometimes a third brood is reared in 

 the year. Booth in his Rough Notes says : " While in quest 

 of the young of a Tawny Owl in a large wood adjoining 

 Balcombe Forest, we alighted on a brood of juvenile Stock 

 Doves in a squirrel's drey on the limbs of an antiquated oak 

 standing in a dense thicket." Incubation lasts eighteen days, 

 and in about a month the young are able to fly. The 

 parents are very careful of the eggs, and will even sit on 

 them till they are taken off with the hand. 



The eggs, like those of the Doves and Pigeons in general, 

 VOL. n. " 3 p 



