RING-DOVE. . 397 



certainly the best-known of its kind in the British Islands. In our mild 

 climate it remains throughout the year; but in North Germany, in con- 

 sequence of the severity of the winter, it is only known as an early spring 

 migrant, arriving in March and leaving in October. It haunts all wooded 

 districts, from the rich low-lying forests and game-coverts on the lowlands 

 and near the coast to the larch- and fir-plantations on the mountains and 

 the moors. It is very partial to a wooded park, and often frequents 

 shrubberies which are mixed with deciduous trees, as well as the open 

 fields, in the hedges of which there are plenty of trees, and now and then 

 a little copse in the out-of-the-way corners. At all seasons of the year it 

 may be seen, either on the open fields or in the shady woods, according to 

 time and season ; and though a proverbially wary bird, it may often be 

 seen quietly feeding in the fields within a few yards of a passing train. 

 The flight of this handsome bird is straightforward, very powerful, and 

 rapid. As it flies, the white parts in the wings and the white collar show 

 very conspicuously, the latter often shining with great brilliancy in the 

 sunlight. 



The love-song or serenade of the Ring-Dove is one of the most charac- 

 teristic sounds of the spring, and in districts where they are abundant 

 the entire woods seem filled with their gentle murmurs; it sounds parti- 

 cularly soothing and pleasant in early April, when every thing seems 

 waking into life after the long winter sleep. The note is a soft full 

 coo-oo-oo, coo-roo-oo, and is most vigorously repeated when the male is 

 paying court to his mate. 



In no place is the Ring-Dove tamer than in the Jardin des Plantes, 

 in Paris. They may be seen walking about on the grass in the enclosures 

 where the deer and other animals are kept, and seem to take no notice 

 whatever of the visitors strolling in the grounds. They will allow them to 

 approach within a few paces, as they sit perched upon the railings or in the 

 low branches of the trees, or, in the company of Sparrows, steal the food 

 which is wasted by the animals. They may constantly be seen flyin- over 

 Paris in the direction of these gardens, and they may be often observed 

 slightly ascending, with motionless wings, describing a curve in the air 

 before they descend on a branch near the top of a tree. They are equally 

 tame in the park outside the gates of Berlin ; and Dixon has remarked the 

 same in the grounds of the mausoleum near Grimsby, in Lincolnshire. 

 They even allowed him to pass within a few yards of their nests without 

 leaving their eggs. 



The Ring-Dove is an early breeder, and often commences its nest late in 

 March or early in April. It chooses a variety of situations. A favourite 

 site is in a plantation of firs ; it also selects almost every forest-tree for its 

 purpose, sometimes making its nest in a tall hedge, a holly, or a yew tree 

 and has been known to build in the branches of a whin bush. In forest- 



