60 



WOOD PIGEON OR RING DOVE. 



Columba pnlumbus LINNJSUS. 



PLATE I. 



Palumbus torquatus, WillougJi. Ray. Columba palumbus, 

 Linn. Colombe ramier, Temm. "Wood Pigeon, Ring 

 Pigeon, Ring Dove, of British authors. Quest or Cushat, 

 Provincially. 



THE Wood Pigeon or Ring Dove is the most 

 common as well as the most generally distributed 

 of our native pigeons, extending over the three 

 kingdoms; but becoming more sparingly distri- 

 buted to the northward, where the low character 

 of the woods is unfriendly to its presence. In 

 the south and middle of Scotland, and in all the 

 wooded districts of England and Ireland, it is 

 abundant ; it is even blamed, and with some 

 reason, for its depredations on the crops of the 

 farmer, particularly turnips, to which the ap- 

 pearance of snow or frost invariably drives them. 

 In the garden, in spring time also, they occasion- 

 ally do considerable damage, breaking over and 

 eating the young cabbage plants and other greens, 

 and cropping the peas even when five or six inches 

 above the ground. Nevertheless, they are a fa- 

 vourite bird, and are not frequently molested or 



