The Stock Dove. 55 



ship was the more remarkable as the Stock Dove is 

 abroad during the day, while the owl is a night feeder, 

 and thus, when the young were hatched, there could 

 have been but little rest in either home. Notwith- 

 standing their different habits and dispositions, both 

 birds went about their duties peaceably, and did not 

 seem inclined to molest one another. 



The Stock Dove does not always nest in trees, but, 

 like other birds and animals, adapts its habits to 

 the surrounding circumstances. Hence we find it 

 breeding in considerable numbers in the open tree- 

 less country in some parts of England and Scotland, 

 more especially on the eastern coasts near the sea- 

 shore. There being no trees in such districts, the 

 Stock Dove has to find some convenient place in 

 which to rear its young, and often uses a deserted 

 rabbit burrow as a nesting place, laying its eggs, 

 sometimes on a few sticks, but often on the bare 

 ground, about a yard inside the hole. Occasionally 

 one may find a nest under a thick furze bush. 



Two broods are reared in the year, the first eggs 

 being laid at the end of March or the beginning of 

 April. The eggs are pure white, and almost iden- 

 tical in size and shape with those of a domestic 

 pigeon. Both parents take their turn at the nest, 

 and sit very closely for seventeen days, when the 

 young are hatched. When about four or five days 



