7 o SOUTH-WESTERN ASIA 



and then uttering their somewhat subdued call, which Mohammedans regard as a 

 prayer. During pairing-time the cry is heard much ot'tener. Every morning and 

 evening in spring the cock bird stands on some elevated spot and "crows," his 

 call being answered by one or more of his fellows. The nest is a hollow scratched 

 in the ground by the hen beneath a bush, and lined with grass, roots, and dry 

 bamboo. The eggs, from six to ten, vary in colour from greenish to brownish buff, 

 and are bluntly pointed. The francolin affords excellent sport, and is one of the 

 best-known game-birds of India ; indeed so much is it sought after throughout its 

 range that in many places it has been more or less completely cleared off. This 

 regrettable circumstance is largely due to the fact that although a large clutch of 

 eggs is laid, usually only two or three chicks hatch out. The plumage of the cock 

 is noticeable for the white-spotted black under-parts, black throat, white ear-band, 

 and chestnut gorget. The upper half of the back is black spotted with white, the 

 lower part of the back and tail are black barred with white, and the primaries have 

 a row of spots on both webs. 



In south-western Asia the most abundant of the three pigeons is 

 the rock-dove (Columba livia), so named from the nature of its haunts. 

 Avoiding the forest and seeming to dislike trees, this bird keeps to steep cliffs or 

 projecting rocky ledges, nesting in large gloomy caves or small clefts, sometimes 

 even in the craters of volcanoes or in wells. In the British Isles and other parts of 

 western and northern Europe, it builds by preference on cliffs near the coast, 

 but elsewhere it may also be found inland, and in the south it lives even in the 

 desert when it can find convenient breeding-places. In these countries its 

 numbers are everywhere proportionately small compared with those living in 

 southern Europe. The species is common on the rocky shores of the Mediterranean 

 from Portugal and Spain to Asia Minor and from Morocco to Syria, whence its 

 range extends through Persia to Turkestan and India. 



Rock-doves, as a rule, make their simple nests in caves and crevices among 

 rocks. The nest is a slight heap of twigs, grass, and heather, or other plants, on 

 winch, twice in the season and sometimes oftener, are laid two white eggs. In 

 India these birds often nest in the neighbourhood of the Alpine swift ; and in Egypt 

 they often lay in oval-shaped pots placed by the peasants on the houses for their con- 

 venience ; and many villages in upper Egypt harbour such swarms of doves that 

 they almost seem to have been built more on account of the doves than of their 

 human inhabitants. The rock-dove is a shy bird, strong in flight, and able to cover 

 long distances on the wing ; in fine weather it is in the habit of circling in the air 

 moving its wings slowly when aloft, and closing them as it gently descends. In 

 spring it often extends its wings with such force that the hard quills clap together 

 over its back, as is the manner with many other doves. As it rises it often 

 produces a peculiar crackling sound by beating the ground rapidly with 

 its wings. 



Its food includes all kinds of grain and other seeds, as well as the roots of a 

 few plants together with slugs and snails, and occasionally worms. In digging food 

 out of the ground, it uses the beak to loosen the earth, and to aid in the comminution 

 of its food fragments of gravel, chalk, or hard clay containing salt are swallowed. 

 Occasionally a rock-dove wil) hover just above the water in order to drink, and 



