142 THE STOCK DOVE. 



years flying out from the south side of the ravine, but the 

 exact spot from which it came was not determined until the 

 summer of 1879, when it was seen to leave a rabbit hole, 

 the mouth of which was almost entirely concealed by a large 

 overhanging tuft of wood grass (Luzula sylvatica). On the 

 burrow being examined a nest was found within a short 

 distance of the mouth containing two white eggs, which 

 were not disturbed. It has since nested there annually, as 

 well as in the dean below the Avenue Bridge. 



The late Mr. Kobert Gray records that Mr. Charles 

 Watson, solicitor, Duns, in a letter to him dated the 18th 

 of April 1878, stated that a few months before he was 

 shown a specimen of this bird which was shot in the woods 

 of Duns Castle, and that the gamekeeper there had informed 

 him that Stock Doves had bred there for several years. 1 

 Mr. Gray also mentions that a beautiful male of this species 

 had been sent to him on the 12th of March 1879 by Mr. 

 Watson, which had been shot on the previous day in the 

 same woods. 2 



Mr. George Bolam, writing in the History of the Berwick- 

 shire Naturalists' Club regarding the Stock Dove, says : " I 

 have to record what is, so far as I am aware, the first 

 authenticated instance of the breeding of this bird in Scot- 

 land. On the 20th of April 1879, whilst walking on the 

 steep banks on the north side of the Whitadder, a short 

 way above Hutton Bridge, a Stock Dove flew out some 

 little way below me, and on going down to the place I 

 was agreeably surprised to find its nest, containing two 

 eggs, a good deal incubated, placed a foot and a half down 

 a rabbit hole. After watching the bird for some time, and 

 satisfying myself that I had not mistaken the species, I 

 removed the eggs, and they now form an interesting addition 



i Hist. B&r. Nat. Club, vol. viii. p. 354. 2 /j^. vo i. yin. p< 499, 



