RINGDOVE 



Columba palumbus 



HE Ringdove is a common and widely distributed resident 

 throughout the British Islands, wherever there are woods. 

 In the Outer Hebrides, and the Orkneys and Shetlands, it 

 is known as a straggler in spring and autumn. In winter 

 its numbers are augmented by migrants from the Continent. 

 The Ringdove or Wood-pigeon is the largest and best 

 of its genus in the British Islands. Its haunts are among 

 the wooded districts, from the large low-lying forests in the south to the fir 

 plantations on the mountain-sides of the Highlands. It is specially fond of 

 parks studded with clumps of trees and small plantations, and frequents the 

 ivy-covered trees and large yews in shrubberies. 



The food of the Ringdove is chiefly composed of vegetable substances. 

 During the summer they feed on green corn, clover shoots, beans, peas, and 

 all kinds of fruit, such as blackberries, hips and haws, and holly berries. In 

 the autumn they devour huge quantities of all kinds of ripe grain and the 

 seeds of various plants, and may often be seen under the trees searching for 

 acorns and beech-mast. When hard pressed in winter the tops of turnips and 

 winter cabbages are taken, and as these bird are voracious feeders they do a 

 great deal of damage in districts where they are very numerous. The Ringdove 

 may often be seen on the sea-shore taking small pieces of the seaweed lying 

 on the beach, for it is very fond of salt, and at certain seasons it eats large 

 quantities of tiny land shells. 



The murmuring love-note of the Ringdove is one of the best-known sounds 

 of spring ; it seems to fill the whole wood with its soothing tones. It is a low 

 mournful 'coo-coo, coo, coo-coo,' repeated over and over again, and rising and 

 falling in a sleepy sort of rhythm, often stopping suddenly in the middle of a 

 note. A single penetrating 'ooo-cooo' is sometimes uttered by the male as he 

 sits perched on some branch not far from his sitting mate. 

 VOL. in. 2 N 137 



