BRITISH WILD PIGEONS 249 



doing), the stock-dove will become as great a friend 

 to the farmer as its congeners are his enemies. All 

 weed devourers are beneficial to agriculture. 



The rock-dove is a beautiful blue pigeon and the 

 smallest of the five British species. As its name 

 implies, it builds in rocks, and for the most part 

 among the cliffs of the sea-coast. It is often con- 

 founded with its congeners, on account of their 

 occasionally nesting in like situations; but it may 

 easily be distinguished from the ring-dove by the 

 absence of the ring round the neck, and from the 

 stock-dove by its white bodice. When the bird 

 builds in escarpments and can be observed from 

 above, this last characteristic and the pale blue of its 

 feathers render it very distinctive as it flies along the 

 face of the cliff. The rock-dove is rare upon the east 

 coasts, and but seldom strays to the south. It is 

 along the north-western seaboards of Britain that it 

 is found, the coast here being broken and indented 

 and abounding in caves. Here the birds breed in 

 vast numbers, surging out when alarmed in such 

 flocks as to make a sort of subdued roar with their 

 wings. Enter one of these caves in the breeding- 

 season and you will see the birds covering every 

 shelf and cranny, their white eggs showing beneath 

 as the body is slightly raised at the first sign of 

 danger. 



Like its congeners, the rock-dove breeds early in 



