THE STOCK DOVE. 1 17 



The morning walk'd forth in fair beauty's bright 

 dress; 

 The sun rose delighted all things to caress ; 



green; double band on the wings, and tip of the tail blackish; 

 throat and breast claret colour; claws black; fourteen inches 

 long; inliabits old turrets and rocky banks of Europe and Si- 

 beria; found also in this country ; breeds sometimes in old rab- 

 bit burrows, sometimes on trees ; migrates southerly in winter ; 

 some however remain in England the whole of the year. 



This has been supposed by some naturalists to be the pigeon 

 whence all our domestic pigeons are derived. The Rev. Mr. 

 Jenyns, however, in his Ornithology nf Cambridgeshire, lately 

 published in the Transactions of the Cambridge Philosophical 

 Society, says, as far as he has observed, that " the Stock-dove 

 never coos, but utters only a hollow rumbling note during the 

 breeding season, which may be heard at a considerable distance. 

 Montague," he continues, "has evidently confounded this 

 species with the Rock-dove, (Columba livia Temm.) which is 

 supposed to be the origin of our dove-house pigeons, and is 

 found in a wild state upon some of the steep shores and cliifs of 

 Great Britain, but is not a native of Cambridgeshire." He 

 adds, •' the Stock-dove and Ring-dove are indiscriminately called 

 wood-pigeons by the country people." 



From this we gather what great uncertainty and confusion 

 still prevails on one of the commonest subjects of ornithology; 

 and the necessity there is for a more correct record of facts 

 concerning it. I may just add, I never heard of any Wood- 

 pigeons in Somersetshire that do not coo. With great deference 

 to the Rev. Mr. Jenyns, I suspect that many persons would be 

 disposed to call the *' hollow rumbling notes" of this bird, coo- 

 ing, which I believe I heard in Forest-hill wood, in May 18'i7. 



The Poets generally concur with the commonly received opi- 

 nion, that the Stock-dove coos ; and although, as we have seen in 

 the Introduction, their statements are not to be implicitly relied 



