320 



PIGEONS. 



streets of Jerusalem those streets which on a later day our blessed 

 Saviour trod. From time immemorial they have been the emblems 

 of impassioned love and faithful attachment, and the fidelity of the 

 turtle-dove to its mate has been sung by our great Shakespeare and 

 almost every other poet, and is now proverbial. 



THE STOCK DOVE, OB WILD PIGEON. 



The stock dove, or wild pigeon, is supposed to be the original 

 stock from which the different varieties of the domestic pigeon are 

 derived, but this has never been clearly proved. It is about fourteen 

 inches in length, and in plumage is exceedingly beautiful. It is one 

 of the three species that live wild in our country, the other two are 

 the turtle-dove and ringdove, the latter being the largest of the three, 

 and so called from the black ring round its neck, which is edged with 

 white. The head, neck, and upper part of the back of the stock dove 

 are of a deep bluish -grey and purple colour, reflected on the sides 

 with green and gold, and that so delicately, as caused William 

 Browne, the poet, to write, 



" That none cap say, though he it strict attends, 

 Here one begins, and there another ends." 



Its breast is a faint reddish purple, belly, thighs, under tail coverts, 

 and the lower part of its back and rump, a light grey, or ash colour ; 

 primary quill feathers dusky, edged with white; the others grey, 

 marked with two black spots on the exterior webs, so as to form two 

 black bars across each wing ; its bill and legs are red, and its claws 

 black. Stock doves are migratory birds, visiting England in large 

 flocks at the beginning of November, and retiring at the end of the 

 spring, though some remain with us, like the ringdove, all the year, 

 and only change their quarters in search of food. The stock dove 

 builds a slovenly nest of sticks, which can be seen through, and lays 

 two eggs. 



THE TURTLE-DOVE 



is one of the prettiest of the 

 species; its bill is a bluish- brown, 

 eyes yellow, and surrounded by 

 a crimson circle ; the back of its 

 head is of an ashen- gray colour, 

 and on each side of its neck is a 

 patch of black feathers, margined 

 with white ; its back is ash colour, 

 and each feather tipped with red- 

 dish brown; wing coverts reddish 

 brown, spotted with black ; quill 

 feathers dusky, with light edges ; the throat, neck, and breast tinged 

 with a beautiful red ; the two middle feathers of the tail brown, and 

 the others dusky, tipped with white, and its legs red. They visit 

 England in May, and leave in September. Young birds reared 

 by domestic pigeons soon become accustomed to the dove-cote, but 



