THE RINGDOVE. 241 



I find, on reference to the Reports of the London 

 Zoological Society, that the Ringdove has bred in their 

 gardens, but the place in which the birds were confined 

 is of large extent and contains trees, on one of which 

 the nest was built, and it would, I fancy, be quite 

 hopeless to expect them to nest in any ordinary garden 

 aviary. 



On the whole the Ringdove is a much nicer bird 

 when flying about at liberty in its native plantations and 

 woods than when confined, and for the reasons indicated 

 in the foregoing paragraphs, I cannot recommend 

 any amateur to try to domesticate it. 



A word of protest against the practice of giving the 

 accepted name of this species, " Ringdove," to the 

 semi-reclaimed Barbary Turtle, may fitly close an 

 article on the bird whose scientific designation is 

 Columba palumbus. 



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