298 BIRDS OF SOMERSETSHIRE. 



instance is recorded in the c Zoologist ' of a nest 

 having been found as late as the 23rd of October. 



The Wood Pigeon (as well as the rest of the 

 Pigeon family) has great power and velocity of flight, 

 and being a heavy bird, in comparison with some 

 others of nearly the same size, bears out to a certain 

 extent the Duke of Argyle's theory of weight before 

 alluded to.* The breast-bone also is very strong 

 and solid and the keel very deep, measuring one 

 inch and one line in depth, while that of the Book 

 measures only eight lines, that of the Partridge ten 

 lines, and that of the Common Buzzard (a larger 

 bird) measures only eight lines in depth. 



The Wood Pigeon cannot be kept, like the 

 common tame Pigeons, in a semi-domestic state, 

 though it can be kept in a state of confinement, arid 

 it is then said to grow very tame ; but it has not 

 been known to breed in this state or to cross with 

 any other Pigeon. In plumage the " King Dove," 

 as this bird is frequently called, from the white patch 

 on each side of the neck (which gives a sort of 

 appearance of a ring), is a handsome, showy bird. 

 The beak is reddish orange, the soft part about the 

 nostrils almost white ; the irides straw-yellow; the 

 head and back of the neck greyish blue : the back, 

 scapulars, wing- coverts (except a few of the outer 



* According to Montagu the Wood Pigeon weighs 

 twenty ounces, the Partridge only fifteen ounces. 



