48 Forest Birds. 



and finally once more prolonged, gives a very near 

 approach to the note. The number and length of 

 the syllables are, however, occasionally varied, but the 

 note is always of the same soft, plaintive nature, from 

 which fact the bird is supposed to have received the 

 name Queest. 



Besides Woodpigeon, Cushat, and Queest, this 

 bird is often called the Ringdove on account of 

 some of the feathers of its neck being tipped with 

 white, and forming a partial and very conspicuous 

 ring. In using this name the Woodpigeon should 

 not be confused with the turtledove (Colwriba 

 turtur}, which is also called by some the ringdove, 

 the former being the largest representative of the 

 genus, and the latter the smallest, to be found in 

 Great Britain. The Woodpigeon is indeed much larger 

 in reality than it appears at a distance, the male 

 measuring seventeen inches in total length and 

 twenty-eight inches across the wings, while the female 

 is slightly smaller. Except in this particular she 

 scarcely differs from her mate; but young birds of the 

 year have no white on their necks, and but an ill- 

 defined bar across the wing, while their whole plumage 

 is less glossy than that of the mature birds. The head 

 and back of the male are bluish-grey, and the upper 

 part of the neck is of the same colour, but the feathers 

 on the sides of the neck, being tipped with white, thus 



