398 BRITISH BIRDS. 



trees a flat broad branch, usually near the trunk, is the site selected ; but 

 in evergreens it is often placed near the end of the branches. The Ring- 

 Dove will often rear its young close to houses, sometimes in the ivy growing 

 over them or in a shrub in the garden. A pair used to breed every year in 

 the tall elms in the playground of the Boys' School at Bootham, just outside 

 the walls of the city of York. Once, however, its young are safely reared, 

 it quits the nesting-place, its disposition seems to change, and it does not 

 reappear until the following breeding-season. In this respect it resembles 

 the Missel-Thrush. The nest is rudely made, almost flat, and is merely 

 composed of a few dead sticks so lightly interwoven that the eggs can 

 often be seen through it from below. Sometimes a squirrel's drey 

 forms a good foundation ; and Dixon has known it lay on old Sparrow- 

 Hawks' nests and in those of the Magpie, without making any further 

 provision. Dixon says that a favourite place for the nest is in the thick 

 masses of branches which are so often an abnormal growth on wild cherry- 

 trees; and he has seen its old nest in a large clump of mistletoe on a 

 poplar tree. The birds often return yearly to the same tree, and if the old 

 nest be still there often build on the top of it, or more frequently on 

 a branch close by. The eggs are almost invariably two in number, never 

 more ; but in some cases the bird will sit on a single egg. They are rather 

 small for the size of the bird, elongated and oval in shape, and pure white. 

 They are very smooth and more polished than the eggs of the Owls, but 

 less so than those of the Woodpeckers. They vary in length from 1*7 to 

 1'55 inch, and in breadth from 1'35 to 1*15 inch. As a rule, they are 

 larger than those of the Rock-Dove and may be distinguished from those 

 of the Stock-Dove by being much whiter. Both birds assist in incubating 

 the eggs. 



Dixon writes : " When the two young are hatched, the efforts of the old 

 birds are taxed to the utmost to supply them with food ; for, judging from 

 the number of times the parents visit the nest, they are voracious feeders, 

 which may account for the small number of eggs laid. Almost as regularly 

 as the Rooks, the old Ring-Doves may be seen flying to and from their nest. 

 They do not feed their young like most other birds, but eject semi-digested 

 food from the crop, the young eating from the open mouth of the parent. 

 The young birds advance to maturity somewhat slowly ; but when they can 

 fly they are abandoned by their parents, who often rear a second or even a 

 third brood in the season, building a new nest for each brood. As an 

 instance of the late breeding of this bird, I may mention that I have shot 

 young birds in the middle of November that had certainly not left the 

 nest more than a fortnight or ten days, for small particles of down were 

 still adhering to many of the feathers. Before leaving the nesting-economy 

 of this species, it is well to draw attention to the following facts : The 

 excrements of birds of the Pigeon tribe are of a peculiar nature and without 



