66 FAMILIAR WILL BIRDS. 



The length of the Ringdove is from 17 J to 18 inches. 

 The plumage is of a generally distributed slate-colour ; 

 upon each side of the neck is a patch of white feathers, 

 surrounded by a ring of bright green and some purple 

 feathers, from which circumstance its name Ringdove is 

 derived. When in flight the white feathers upon the 

 wing will at once determine its denomination. The 

 sexes are difficult to distinguish. 



As may be imagined from one of its names, these birds 

 inhabit wooded districts, and are to be found throughout 

 the British Isles and Europe generally. The nest is 

 usually built upon the forks of trees, sometimes but from 

 six to eight feet from the ground, yet at others from that 

 height up to the top of the tree. They will also often 

 build their nest in ivy. This nest is built of twigs, loosely 

 laid upon the forked branches, and of so light and fragile 

 a nature that the eggs and young may often be discerned 

 from beneath. In connection with the nest of this bird, 

 we cannot forbear from quoting a local anecdote. The 

 Magpie was instructing the Dove in nest-building. " You 

 place twigs thus and thus, and others thus and thus, inter- 

 lacing/' Oh, I see ! " said the Dove. Go and do it, 

 then/' said the Magpie, who now has a covered nest, 

 whereas the anticipatory Dove has but a poor framework of 

 a foundation for a nest, which seems made simply to be 

 blown away. How unlike, for instance, the beautiful nest 

 of the Chaffinch or the poor little Wrens ! These seem to 

 provide against every eventuality; but the thoughtless 

 Ringdove seems to imagine that there can be no storms, that 

 the branches of the trees cannot move beneath the influence 

 of the wind ; and, as a consequence, the two white eggs or 

 the young are often blown from the nest and destroyed. 



