THE RING-DOVE. 



427 



pearl-gray deepening at the tips, and the tertials being blue-gray with 

 two or three spots. The chin is blue-gray, the sides of the neck slaty 

 gray glossed with green, and the breast purplish red. The specific name 

 of wnas, or " wine-colored," is given to the bird on account of the pe- 

 culiar hue of the throat. The whole of the under surface is gray, and 

 the tail-feathers are colored with gray of several tones, the outside 

 feathers having the basal portion of the outer web white. The beak 

 is deep orange, the eyes 

 scarlet, and the legs and 

 toes red. The total length 

 is about fourteen inches, 

 the female being a little 

 smaller. 



The bird which now 

 comes before our notice 

 is familiar to all residents 

 in the country under 

 the titles of Ring-Dove, 

 Wood Pigeon, Wood 

 Guest, and Cushat. 



This pretty Dove is one 

 of the commonest of Brit- 

 ish birds, breeding in al- 

 most every little copse or 

 tuft of trees, and inhabit- 

 ing the forest grounds. 

 in great abundance. Toward and during the breeding season its 

 soft, complacent, cooing is heard in every direction, and with a very 

 slight search its nest may be found. It is a strange nest, and hardly 

 deserving that name, being nothing more than a mere platform of sticks 

 resting upon the fork of a bough, and placed so loosely across each 

 other that when the maternal bird is away the light may sometimes be 

 seen through the interstices of the nest, and the outline of the eggs 

 made out. Generally the Ring-Dove chooses a rather lofty branch for 

 its nesting-plaoe, but it occasionally builds at a very low elevation. 



The eggs are never more than two in number and perfectly white, 

 looking something like hens' eggs on a small scale, save that the ends 

 are more equally rounded. 



The food of this Dove consists of grain and seeds of various kinds, 

 together with the green blades of newly-sprung corn and the leaves of 

 turuips, clover, and other vegetables. Quiet and harmless as it may 

 look, the Ring-Dove is a wonderful gormandizer, and can consume 

 great quantities of food. The crop is capacious, to suit the appetite, 

 and can contain a singular amount of solid food, as indeed seems to be 



The Band-tailed Pigeon (Co/m?» 6a /asoato). 



