breed in that county. But why did not your cor- 

 respondent determine the place of its nidification, 

 whether on rocks, cliffs, or trees? If he was not an 

 adroit ornithologist I should doubt the fact, because 

 people with us perpetually confound the stock-dove 

 with the ring-dove. 



For my own part I readily concur with you in 

 supposing that house-doves are derived from the 

 small blue-rock pigeon, Columba livia, for many rea- 

 sons. In the first place the wild stock-dove is mani- 

 festly larger than the common house-dove, against 

 the usual rule of domestication, which generally 

 enlarges the breed. Again, those two remarkable 

 black spots on the remiges of each wing of the stock- 

 dove, which are so characteristic of the species, would 

 not, one should think, be totally lost by its being re- 

 claimed ; but would often break out among its de- 

 scendants. But what is worth a hundred arguments 

 is, the instance you give in Sir Roger Mostyn's house- 

 doves in Caernarvonshire ; which, though tempted 

 by plenty of food and gentle treatment, can never be 

 prevailed on to inhabit their cote for any time ; but 

 as soon as they begin to breed, betake themselves to 

 the fastnesses of Ormshead, and deposit their young 

 in safety amidst the inaccessible caverns and preci- 

 pices of that stupendous promontory. "You may 

 drive nature out with a pitchfork, but she will always 

 return : " 



" Naturam expellas furca . . . tamen usque recurret." 

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