168 EOCK DOTE. 



In Yorkshire, the Rock Dove is plentiful among the high 

 cliffs of Flamborough and Speeton. 



In Scotland, it frequents most of the rocky shores of 

 Sutherlandshire, also those of Ross-shire, Morayshire, and 

 Cromarty; in fact any such on both the east and west coasts. 



In Orkney, the Wild Pigeon abounds, being found almost 

 everywhere where there are rocks or caves to afford them a 

 secure building retreat. The same is the case in Shetland 

 and the Hebrides, or Western Islands. 



These birds are commonly believed to pair for life; if the 

 female be killed her partner exhibits the most expressive 

 emotions of distress; and it is long, if ever, before he changes 

 his widowed state: some are even said to have been known 

 to have died with grief 'I did mourn as a Dove,' says 

 Daniel, borrowing from nature the most expressive image 

 that he could use. They are capable of being easily tamed 

 if taken young, which indeed is evidenced by the domesticated 

 race, and one has been known to have lived full twenty years. 

 Mr. Edward, of Banff, has recorded in the 'Banffshire 

 Journal' an instance of a Common Pigeon having lived to 

 the seventeenth year of its age; and of one which he brought 

 up, the late lamented Macgillivray thus feelingly writes, in 

 recording its untimely fate: 'Long and true was my sorrow 

 for my lost companion, the remembrance of which will 

 probably continue as long as life. I have since mourned 

 the loss of a far dearer Dove. They were gentle and loving 

 beings; but while the one has been blended with the elements, 

 the other remains, 'Hid with CHEIST in GOD,' and for it I 

 'mourn not as those that have no hope.' ' 



Wild Pigeons live peaceably among their neighbours, and 

 amicably among themselves, and if any slight differences, for 

 the most part for the same dwelling-place, ever arise, 

 'Amantium irse amoris integratio est.' In the winter they 

 collect into flocks, as also in the autumn and the spring 

 sometimes of several hundred or even thousand individuals, and 

 then may be approached, with care, rather more nearly than 

 at other times, for ordinarily they are shy. Macgillivray 

 writes, 'When searching for food, they walk about with great 

 celerity, moving the head backwards and forwards at each 

 step, the tail sloping towards the ground, and the tips of the 

 wings tucked up over it. In windy weather they usually 

 move in a direction more or less opposite to the blast, and 

 keep their body nearer to the ground than when it is calm, 



