212 THE BIRDS OF OUR RAMBLES. 



other members of this family, it is rarely heard 

 out of the breeding season. The Rock Dove is 

 an early breeder, and continues to rear brood 

 after brood all the summer through. April, May, 

 and June, however, are the busiest months. A 

 shelf in a cave is selected by preference, but if 

 this cannot be had, crannies and clefts in the 

 cliffs are used as nesting-places. The nest is 

 slight enough a few sticks and straws, a scrap 

 or two of dry grass, or a few bits of seaweed are 

 raked together, and the two eggs are pure white. 

 The Rock Dove obtains most of its food on the 

 pastures and ground near the cliffs, sometimes 

 visiting farms several miles inland. This is com- 

 posed of grain, seeds, and the shoots of herbage. 

 The white lower back and rump, and the two' 

 conspicuous black wing- bars, distinguish this 

 species. The STOCK DOVE may also be met with 

 round many rocky coasts. 



We now arrive at the more legitimate dwellers 

 of the rocks the birds that have their home 

 upon the wide and open sea, and which only 

 come to land to rear their offspring, crowding 

 in tens of thousands to certain favoured cliffs. 

 The greatest rock-birds are the very distinct 

 little family of AUKS (Alcidce). Of these the 

 wa s s ts rocky two k est known species are probably the GUILLE- 

 MOT (Alca troile) and the RAZORBILL (A. torda). 

 Both these birds are eminently gregarious, and 

 especially so during the breeding season. Both 

 birds are similar in appearance, although the 

 upper plumage of the Guillemot is browner in 

 shade, and the broad bill of the Razorbill, 

 with its white stripe across the centre, is very 

 different from the long, thin, and pointed bill of 



