Our Wild Pigeons. 25 



certainly of greater size, and to it the above remarks 

 will appropriately apply. A Quest which I have just 

 submitted to the scales, in its feathers, as shot, weighs 

 1J Ib. ; while a Stock-dove put into the same, and under 

 like conditions, barely turns the beam, at 12 oz. 



In measurement the Quest is 18 inches in length, with 

 a wing spread of 2 feet 5 inches. The length of the 

 Stock-dove is 13 inches, its wings extending to nearly 

 2 ft. 3 in. By this it appears that the wings of the latter 

 are longer in proportion to its body than those of the 

 former; just what might be expected from its more 

 migratory habits, calling for greater and longer- sustained 

 flights. 



Without taking the difference of size into account, the 

 two species, though often confounded by the incurious, 

 are easily distinguished. Though both are of a slate-blue 

 colour, in the Stock-dove the blue is more pronounced ; 

 hence one of its common appellations among the country 

 people, of " Hue pigeon." Nor does it show any white 

 markings, as the Quest, which has these both on the neck 

 and wings. The only variegation on the coat of the 

 Stock-dove save the lighter and darker shades of slate- 

 blue is from two or three black blotches (not bands) on 

 its wing-coverts, and the vinous iridescence around its 

 neck, much more brilliant than on the other species, and 

 from which it has its specific name (Etias (oinos, wine). 

 " Stock" it is supposed to have derived from its habit of 

 breeding in the old stocks of pollarded trees, while the 

 Ring-dove nests higher up among the branches. But 

 there is a more essential difference in their place of nidifi- 

 cation ; for the Stock-dove does not always make its nest 

 in trees, but rather the opposite. Its hatching-place by 

 preference is certainly closer to the ground, even upon 



