142 



WOOD PIGEON 



Columba cenas LINN. 

 PLATE XI. 



Columba cenas, Linn. Syst. 1. 279. 1. B Lath. Ind. On. 



2. 589. sp. 1 Briss. Orn. v. 1. sp. 6 Colombe colombin. 



Temm. Pig. et Gal. 1. 118 Id. Man. tfOrnith. 2. p. 445. 



Stock Dove, Illus. Br. Orn. 2. 408. pi. 56. f. 1. 



OF inferior size, but nearly allied in habits and 

 manners, we now present our readers with the figure 

 of a species, which, till of late years, by most of our 

 writers, was confounded with the rock pigeon, the 

 original stock of our common pigeon, or at least had 

 its history so mixed up with the descriptions of that 

 bird, as to render its individuality and specific dis- 

 tinction a matter of considerable doubt. Brisson 

 appears to have been the first who accurately point- 

 ed out the distinctions between the two, and he has 

 since been followed by Temminck, who, in his ge- 

 ni i ral history of the pigeons, and his excellent and 

 useful Manual of Ornithology, has so clearly mark- 

 ed its distinctive characters, and described its habits, 

 as to render it almost impossible even for a very tyro 

 to confound or mistake the one with the other. 



Like the previously described species, it is indi- 



