ROCK DOVE. 



triumphant defiance, " Coo, coo, coo ! Come noo, come noo ! " 

 There are not very many of them in Moidart. 



Although they are very strong, hardy birds in general, I have 

 known them to be destroyed by a disease that prevailed among 

 them a good many years ago in Kirkcudbrightshire, where I have 

 found many of them lying dead in the woods, with swelled 

 throats, and quantities of matter oozing out of their mouths 

 and eyes. 



The EOCK DOVE (Colombo, lima) can be found in Moidart. I 

 have seen a nest in the ruins of Castle Tirrim, the former abode 

 of Clanranald, the Chief of the Macdonalds. They are very 

 numerous in the caves in the West Highland rocky coast, 

 especially in the " Cathedral Cave " in the island of Eigg (so 

 called because the Catholic natives used to meet there for 

 mass when their religion was proscribed elsewhere. They 

 now have a chapel and a resident priest on the other side 

 of the island, and the " Cathedral " is occupied by Eock Pigeons, 

 who build their nests on the high shelves of rock inside it, 

 flying out with a noisy clatter when alarmed by visitors). The 

 Eock greatly resembles its descendants of the Dovecot, with 

 characteristic black stripes on its wings, which are said to recur 

 when fancy breeds get mixed. They never perch on trees. I 

 have never known the Dovecot Pigeon build on trees, though I 

 have daily seen them perch there while waiting to be fed. The 

 pale blue ones look lovely on an old apple tree among the pink 

 blossoms. I never knew them roost for the night on a tree. 

 The Domestic Pigeon is a very hardy bird, minding neither 



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