26 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



and in it, since it has been known to breed in an aban- 

 doned rabbit-hole. But, above all, it prefers the ledge 

 of a cliff, where there is a niche or crevice roomy enough 

 for its purpose. Just such a cliff is there on Peynard 

 Hill, behind my house, where the hard Cornstone overlies 

 a softer stratum of the Old Red ; and thero the Stock- 

 dove finds the breeding-place of its choice. 



This predilection of the Columba cenas for rocks has 

 led to its being confused with the real Rock-dove (C. 

 livia). Here, in Herefordshire, where the latter is rarer , 

 and of course less known, the Stock-dove is called Rock 

 pigeon, or rather " Rocky," when spoken of in the 

 plural number, " Rockies." It is evident that this 

 erroneous nomenclature extended into Hampshire in the 

 days of Gilbert White, and that the "Rockiers" reported 

 to him by the almost octogenarian sportsmen were 

 Stock-doves. 



Neither are these last the progenitors of our pigeons, 

 though by a gentle gradation they draw nearer to it. 

 One more link, and we arrive at the real ancestry of the 

 bird for which we provide home and nesting-place. Un- 

 questionably is it descended from the pigeon of the sea- 

 cliffs. 



This, the Rock-dove (Columba livia), is even smaller 

 than the Stock, and, of course, also the domestic variety; 

 so that " the usual rule of domestication " is not falsified 

 by its being taken as the forefather of the last. The fact 

 that it is so is established by many points of resemblance. 

 The Rock-dove, like the other two wild species, is of a 

 slate-blue colour ; but it has the transverse bands upon 

 its wings wanting in both of these, and always present in 

 blue House pigeons. A characteristic yet more infallible 

 thing shows afHnitv between tjie 4ove of the 



