LITTORAL LAND BIRDS. 275 



The breeding season of the Stock Dove begins 

 in April, and extends over the entire summer into 

 the succeeding autumn. When resorting to maritime 

 cliffs, the nest is often placed amongst ivy, in a 

 rabbit burrow, or in a crevice of the cliffs, and is 

 a mere platform of twigs, roots, or straws. In 

 many cases a nest is dispensed with altogether. 

 The two eggs are creamy-white, smooth, and 

 polished. In inland localities a hole in a tree, or 

 the deserted drey of a squirrel, or old nest of a 

 Crow or Magpie, is usually selected. Several broods 

 are reared in the season. This Dove is one of 

 those species that is rapidly extending its area of 

 distribution in our islands ; the trend of its advance, 

 however, being always northerly. Outside our 

 limits the Stock Dove is found over most parts of 

 Europe and North- West Africa, eastwards to the 

 Caucasus and Asia Minor. 



HERON. 



Although this bird, the Ardea cinerea of most 

 writers, is usually associated with fresh and inland 

 waters, it is frequently enough met with along the 

 coast, especially about estuaries, salt-marshes, and 

 such portions of the shore where pools are left by 

 the tide amongst the rocks at low water. More- 

 over, it sometimes establishes its colonies on marine 

 cliffs, or in woods adjoining the sea. Although of 

 recent years considerably reduced in numbers, the 

 Heron still justifies the prefix of " Common," which 



