THE STOCK-DOVE AND THE ROCK-DOVE 517 



to discriminate l>etweeii them. Yet, as we have already shown, the 

 two birds are readily distinguishable. The very name stock-dove is a 

 \\iiness to this confusion, for by some, indeed, it was use<l under the 

 impression that this bird >\as the ancestor of domesticated races of 

 l>i:_'t <nis. of which more presently. By others it is supposed to refer 

 to the bird's habit of m-sting in the "stocks" of pollarded trees. But 

 In this as it may. this xprrirs is an interesting one, if only on account 

 of tin ;ilaptal'il:i\ it displays in the character of its breed ing- places, 

 and for the curiously indecisive nature of its coloration. Even the 

 I 'lack markings on the wings suggest tentative experiments, for as 

 yet they are neither bands nor spots, and, be it noted, they are 

 wanting in the young, from which we may infer that there .M. 

 incipient bands some day It be completed. 



In its general habits it consorts alike with the wood-pigeon and 

 the rock-dove, circumstances determining the association. 



Of its courting habits Mr. Edmund Selous has made a few 

 interesting observations. As seems to be the rule among pigeons, 

 there is a great display of bowing, the breast meanwhile being 

 inflated, and the tail spread fan-wise. Sometimes the male and 

 t'rmalr bo\\ lacini: one another, somrtimrs one stands In-hind tin- 

 other, so that one bird bows into space. But during this ceremony 

 it would seem, with the stock-dove no sound is uttered. This 

 curious performance takes place, as with the wood-pigeon, both 

 on the ground and in the trees. Occasionally both male and female 

 rise in the air and make much battle there, ever}* now and then 

 bringing the wings together with a smart snap, a sound which Mr. 

 Selous supposes to be caused by one bird striking at the other with 

 its wing in mid-air, but there is no sort of evidence that this is the 

 case ; on the contrary, it is highly improbable. The importunate 

 male is, however, often repulsed by a blow of the wing when paying 

 his attentions on the ground, just as the female sparrow will resist 

 unwelcome or untimely attentions by seizing her would-be suitor by 

 the feathers of the nape. The female stock-dove, however, having 



