of Selborne 97 



Ray, I am much of your mind ; and see no reason for 

 making it the origin of the common liouse-dove : but 

 suppose those that have advanced that opinion may 

 have been misled by another ap[iellation, often given to 

 the oenas, which is that of stock-dove. 



Unless the stock-dove in the winter varies greatly in 

 manners from itself in summer, no species seems more 

 unlikely to be domesticated, and to make an house-dove. 

 We very rarely see the latter settle on trees at ail, nor 

 does it ever haunt the woods ; but the former, as long 

 as it stays with us, from November perhaps to February, 

 lives the same wild life with the ring-dove, pah/mbus 

 foj'qtiatiis ; frequents coppices and groves, supports itself 

 chiefly by mast, and delights to roost in the tallest 

 beeches. Could it be known in what manner stock- 

 doves build, the doubt would be settled with me at once, 

 provided they construct their nests on trees, like the 

 ring-^dove, as I much suspect they do. 



You received, you say, Inst spring a stock dove from 

 Sussex; and are informed that they sometimes breed 

 in that county. But why did not your correspondent 

 determine the place of its nidification, whether on rocks, 

 cliffs, or trees? If he was not an adroit ornithologist I 

 should doubt the fact, because people with us perpetually 

 confound the stock-dove with the ring-dove. 



For my own part, I readily concur with you in sup- 

 posing that house-doves are derived from the smnll blue 

 rock-pigeon, for many reasons. In the first place, the wild 

 stock-dove is manifestly larger than the common house- 

 dove, against the usual rule of domestication, which 

 generally enlarges the breed. Again, these two remark- 

 able black spots on the remiges of each wing of the 

 stock-dove, which are so characteristic of the species, 

 would not, one should think, be totally lost by its being 

 reclaimed ; but would often break out among its 

 descendants. But what is worth an hundred arguinents 

 is, the instance you give in Sir Roger Mostyn's house- 

 doves, in Caernarvonshire ; which, though tem[ited by 

 plenty of food and gentle treatment, can never be 

 prevailed on to inhabit their cote for any time; but as 



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