294 COLUMBIA. 



Rock Dove C. anas, considering them but one species, and 

 I have, therefore, omitted the usual references to these 

 works among the synonymes altogether. 



The Stock Dove is, however, perfectly distinct from the 

 Rock Dove, as its localities, its habits, voice, and plumage, 

 will sufficiently demonstrate. It was called anas* on 

 account of the vinous claret colour of the plumage of the 

 neck ; and Stock Dove, not because it was by some con- 

 sidered to be the origin of our domestic stock, but because 

 it builds in the stocks of trees, particularly such as have 

 been headed down, and have become in consequence rugged 

 and bushy at the top. In the open countries of Suffolk and 

 Norfolk, this species frequently makes its nest in holes in 

 the ground, generally selecting a rabbit's burrow for the 

 purpose ; and Messrs. Sheppard and Whitear, in their 

 Catalogue of the Birds of those counties, printed in the 

 fifteenth volume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society, 

 mention, " that when the warreners find the young in a 

 burrow, they fix sticks at the mouth of the hole in such a 

 manner as to prevent the escape of the young, but to allow 

 the old birds to feed them ; and when they are in good 

 condition they are taken for the table." Mr. Leathes says, 

 " It breeds in old trees near the decoy at Herringfleet." 

 Mr. Salmon, in his notice of Norfolk birds, says, " The 

 Stock Dove occupies the deserted rabbit burrows upon 

 warrens ; it places its pair of eggs about a yard from the 

 entrance, generally upon the bare sand, sometimes using a 

 small quantity of dried roots, &c., barely sufficient to keep 

 the eggs from the ground ; besides such situations on the 

 heaths, it nestles under thick furze bushes, which are im- 

 pervious to rain in consequence of the sheep and rabbits 

 eating off the young and tender shoots as they grow, the 

 birds always preferring those bushes that have a small 

 * jEnas from oinos, vinum, vinago, a name given to this bird by Ray. 



