The Stock-Dove 39 



in the season, the mother will produce two more ; if 

 a third is added to the original couple, and it happens 

 to hatch out about the same time they do, all three will 

 be reared, but there she stops. Two is the tradition, 

 two is the proper thing, two is respectability, and she 

 knows it. As for her young, they are easily tamed 

 as cushats, and like these grow very bold and familiar 

 if well treated. It is not an impossible feat to teach 

 them to pass out and in the dovecote, or breed in 

 captivity, but they do not mate with the tame 

 pigeon ; in spite of the once current belief that as- 

 signed them the position now universally conceded 

 to th wild blue rock of being the original of 

 our domestic pigeons. 



Less is known of the stock-dove's habits than 

 about those of far rarer birds, the fact being that only 

 an ornithologist has any great inducement to hunt him 

 up. If he were on the game list, or if he made into 

 delicate pie, things might be different, for sportsmen 

 and pot-hunters would make it their business to find 

 out all about him. Not being so, he is allowed to live 

 what is practically a life of peace. When he does get 

 into trouble the cause is usually bad company, and 

 the time after the breeding season. While living en 

 famille he is as fond of privacy as the typical English 

 lord. But though too conscientious altogether to 

 neglect the domestic duties, he evidently regards them 

 much as Sir Thomas Browne did, and performs them 

 with as much rapidity as is consistent with self-respect 



