428 THE KOCK-DOVE AND TURTLE-DOVE. 



the case with most of the Pigeon tribe, so that when the birds assemble 

 together in the autumn the flocks will do great damage to the farmer. 

 The Ring-Dove may easily be known by the peculiarity from which 

 it derives its name, the feathers upon the side of the neck being tipped 

 with white, so as to form portions of rings set obliquely on the neck. 



Different as are the Domestic Pigeons, they are all modifications 

 of the common Blue Rock Pigeon, and, if permitted to mix freely 

 with each other, display an inveterate tendency to return to the orig- 

 inal form, with its simple plumage of black bars across the wing, just 

 as the finest breeds of lop-eared rabbits will now and then produce up- 

 right-eared young. 



The Rock-Dove derives its popular name from its habit of frequent- 

 ing rocks rather than trees — an idiosyncrasy which is so inherent in its 

 progeny that even the Domestic Pigeons, which have not seen anything 

 except their wooden cotes for a loug series of generations, will, if they 

 escape, take to rocks or buildings, and never trouble themselves about 

 trees, though they should be at hand. 



This species seems to have a very considerable geographical range, for 

 it is common over most parts of Europe, Northern Africa, the coasts of 

 the Mediterranean, and has even been found in Japan. 



From this stock the varieties that have been reared by careful man- 

 agement are almost innumerable, and are so different in appearance that 

 if they were seen for the first time almost any systematic naturalist 

 would set them down as belonging not only to difi^erent species, but to 

 dififerent genera — such for example as the Pouter, the Jacobin, the 

 Trumpeter, and the Fantail, the last-mentioned bird having a greater 

 number of feathers in its tail than any of the others. 



The world-famed Turtle-Dove is, although a regular visitor of this 



country, better known by 



fame and tradition than by 



I'M actual observation. This 



bird has from classic time 

 until the present day been 

 conventionally accepted as 

 the type of matrimonial per- 

 fection, loving but its mate 

 and caring for no other un- 

 til death steps in to part the 

 wedded couple. Yet it is by 

 no means the only instance of 

 rjy r^ "^^^ ,^ ^^ such conjugal aflfection among 



Thk TrKTLE-DovE (Turtur auritns). ^he feathered tribes, for there 

 are hundreds of birds which can lay claim to the same excellent qual- 

 ities, the fierce eagle and the ill-omened raven being among their number. 



