BASQUES. 135 



Richmond. Mr. Jesse, in his ' Gleanings,' observes 

 that some pairs of Stock Doves build every year in 

 holes of old oak pollards in Richmond Park, and 

 that the keepers there alwaj^s take the young, which 

 they say are excellent eating. It is more than pro- 

 bable that some few pairs of the Stock Dove remain 

 to breed in this county also ; for I have now and 

 then seen a pair of birds here very late in the spring, 

 and on one occasion Mr. Power shot one of a pair 

 as late as the 13th May. The following year he 

 killed three on July 13th, and one of them proved to 

 be a bird of the year. ' , 



On the 27th April, 1863, 1 saw a pair of Pigeons 

 about some pollard trees at Kingsbury, and, by 

 crawling some distance on hands and knees, I ob- 

 tained a sufficiently near view of the birds to satisfy 

 myself that they were Stock Doves. I failed, how- 

 ever, to discover any nest in the neighbourhood, 

 although, as I subsequently saw the birds again near 

 the same spot, I have little doubt but that they were 

 breeding. 



Early in April, 1863, while walking along the 

 brook called Silk Stream, a Stock Dove flew out 

 of a clump of fir-trees, passing close enough to 

 enable me to distinguish the species. The following 

 week, on April llth, I again walked to the same 

 spot ; it was late in the evening, and small flocks of 

 Fieldfares were coming in successively to roost in 

 the firs. Nothing, however, specially attracted my 



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