ROCK-DOVE. 71 



M holly or other thick trees, in evergreens in gardens, and the 

 like ; and nothing is more common than to see the parent birds 

 frequenting the garden and close vicinity of a country-house, 

 almost as tamely as if they were a pair of common or house 

 Pigeons. The eggs seem to be invariably very oval in shape, and 

 purely white. They are 1| inch long, by i inch broad. 



147. STOCK-DOVE. (Columba anas). 

 Stock Pigeon, Wood Pigeon, Wood Dove. This Dove is not 

 only, generally speaking, much less abundant throughout the coun- 

 try than the Ring-dove, but very often, it would seem, confounded 

 with it by casual observers, who only notice the several birds 

 from a distance, or on the wing. They frequent the same roost- 

 ing-places, and often feed in the same field, though probably on 

 different species of food. I have shot birds of both species at 

 the same discharge of the un, and have notieed the different 

 matters which had supplied their meals of the day, Holly- 

 berries, in the case of the Ring-dove ; wild mustard-seed, in the 

 other. The Stock-dove is, however, immediately and easily dis- 

 tinguishable from the Ring-dove, by its lesser size, a slight diffe- 

 rence in colour, and the entire absence of the " ring " of white 

 feathers on the neck. Its nest is placed sometimes on pollard 

 trees, sometimes in open holes or hollows in old trees ; and very 

 commonly, in some districts, either on the ground below thick 

 furze-bushes, or in deserted rabbit-burrows, two or three feet 

 distant from the entrance. The nest is very slight, consisting 

 merely of a few twigs or roots. The eggs are two in number, 

 pure white, about or rather exceeding 1-g- inch in length, by 

 li inch in breadth. 



ROCK-DOVE (Columba lima). 



Wild Pigeon, Rock Pigeon, Wild Dove, Doo, Rockier. This 

 Pigeon has usually, until not long since, been confused with the 

 Stock Dove. But their plumage is unlike, their voice unlike, and 

 especially their habits and living and breeding haunts unlike. It 

 is ^believed, with some certainty, that the Rock Dove is the real 

 origin of the Domestic Pigeon, and certainly any one who has 

 seen the large flight of Domestic Pigeons turned wild, which 

 frequent the caverns in the rock-bound coast near St. Abb's Head 

 and similar localities, living with, flying with, feeding with, and 

 nesting with the undoubted wild Rockier, can entertain but very 

 small doubts on the subject. The Rock Dove makes a loose nest 

 of twigs and plant stems and dry grass ; very often far back! in 

 holes and crevices of the rock ; and lays two white eggs, with a 

 much better defined " big end" and " little end" than in the case 

 of the two Pigeons last named. 



