Columbce 165 



of a vegetable nature. Grain, peas, beans, leaves and 

 bulbs of turnips, and seeds may be mentioned in 

 particular. Breeding takes place early and late, three 

 broods being not uncommonly reared in a season. The 

 colours are compared with those of the next two species 

 under the head of the Rock-dove. 



The Stock-dove (C. cenas), often shot and sold in 

 shops as the "Blue Rock," has spread enormously in 

 Britain during the last thirty or forty years. It was 

 hardly known to breed as far north as the Border 

 country before 1875, where the first nest was located 

 in Scotland in 1877, but now it is locally common to 

 the extreme north of the mainland and in Ireland. In 

 wooded districts the bird breeds in hollow trees, but it 

 often prefers rabbits' holes on warrens or sea-side links, 

 though trees may be plentiful close at hand. There is 

 generally some attempt at a nest, while the two eggs 

 are of a somewhat yellower white than those of the 

 Ring-dove. The voice is softer than that of its con- 

 gener, the flight is lighter, the food is the same, as is 

 the foreign range, except that it reaches to central 

 Asia and does not include the Atlantic Islands. 



The Rock-dove (C. lima] certainly breeds on the 

 western shores of England and Wales, in Ireland, 

 the north and west of Scotland, and especially the 

 islands up to Shetland ; but whether our southern and 

 eastern birds, even at Plamborough and St Abb's 

 Head, are not escaped dovecot Pigeons must always 

 remain somewhat uncertain. Those found inland are 

 undoubtedly so. Abroad, however, this species occurs 

 locally in the interior of Europe as well as on the 

 coasts, breeding from the Faeroes, Scandinavia, and 

 other northern countries to the Mediterranean basin 



