THE ROCK-DOVE. an 



grain-feeding birds, have to fly considerable distance from the sea coast, its natural 

 habitat, in search of food. In a wild state it often performs exceedingly long 

 flights for this purpose, becomes acquainted with a tract of country over which it 

 flies, and returns home with unfailing certainty. Mr. Seebohm describes the Rock- 

 Dove as sitting on the ledges of the cliffs and dashing out of the caves to pass 

 inland to distant pastures. He says that it often travels enormous distances to its 

 feeding grounds, and that the Rock- Doves at St. Kilda visit the Hebrides daily 

 in search of food, a distance of about seventy miles. To the capability of taking 

 these long flights in various directions, according to the locality of the food, ma}' 

 be traced the homing faculty of the domesticated Pigeon, which is not as usually 

 stated a particular instinct, but is dependent on the knowledge of the locality by 

 the bird itself. 



The littoral character of the Wild Pigeon is singularly evidenced in its intense 

 liking for salt or salt water, which is retained by all the domesticated varieties. 

 If salt is not supplied to them, they are in the habit of eating mortar of our 

 dwellings, and doing considerable damage to the roofs, which may be entirely 

 prevented by supplying a mixture of salt and old mortar. It is greatly to the 

 advantage of the health of the birds. 



The food of the Blue-Rock consists, as in the other species of the genus, of 

 grain and pulse, mixed, however, with seeds of grasses and weeds. It is probable 

 that the wild species, like those that are semi-domesticated, pair for life. Many 

 of the habits of the Rock-Dove are identical with those of the domestic Pigeon. 

 Its note is the same. The pronounced courtship of these birds is identical. The 

 male is seen running round his mate, swelling out the throat, drooping the wings, 

 brushing the ground with his extended tail, and repeating his amorous coo. If 

 the hen flies away a short distance the cock flies after her, and again repeats his 

 antics, each bird then taking the beak of the other in its own and bringing their 

 heads together, which is strongly suggestive of human kissing. Neither in a 

 wild or domesticated state does the Rock-Dove perch upon trees, in this respect 

 differing from all the other birds of the group. Incubation is performed by both 

 sexes, but the relative hours in which the two birds occupy the nest has rarely 

 been noted. The female has, as may be expected, by far the greater part of the 

 work to do. The male bird usually comes to the nest about nine or ten o'clock 

 in the morning, and takes his turn till about one or two, all the other hours 

 of the twenty-four being occupied by the hen. The soft food, which has been so 

 repeatedly alluded to, is involuntarily secreted by both sexes by the eighteenth 

 day. If the eggs do not hatch, the birds will not sit for more than a single day 

 longer. The presence of this soft food cannot be got rid of, and being obviously 



