800 WILD PIGEONS. 



eggs, generally a male and a female. Hence the Scotch 

 phrase, when there are only a son and daughter of a 

 family, " a doo's nest." 



The stock-dove is gregarious in winter, like the ring- 

 dove, and feeds on beech-mast, &c., in the same way. 

 They are not found farther north than the midland coun- 

 ties of England. They are beautifully shaped, a blueish 

 grey colour, the males having a fine golden neck. Unlike 

 the other wild pigeons, their voice is a failure, being only 

 a sort of grumbling sound. 



The rock-dove (the true wild pigeon) is smaller than the 

 preceding, and has a white spot above the tail. I have 

 often met with them among the rocky caverns of the coast. 

 They fly with great rapidity, which may account for the 

 name " blue rocks," applied by the admirers of that cruel 

 sport, pigeon -shooting, to their fleetest birds. Both in the 

 Caithness and Morayshire cliffs, I noticed some brown and 

 light-coloured ; these, most likely, had joined their wild 

 associates from some pigeon-house, although there were 

 none within the distance of several miles. This is the 

 more likely, as the habits of the rock-doves are exactly 

 those of the domestic species. Their nests are never fixed 

 in trees, and, when tame pigeons leave the dovecot, they 

 always build in similar places viz., old ruins, and shel- 

 tered rocks and caverns. In fact, I have little doubt they 

 are the same bird in a wild and tame state. 



One word for the turtle, that fairest of doves, and most 

 welcome harbinger of spring. There is a plaintive mur- 

 mur in its coo, connected as it is with the idea of constancy 



