148 Among the Birds in Northern Shires. 



we have already noticed. Birds of the Pigeon tribe 

 are common in most of these northern woods. Of 

 these the Ring Dove is by far the most numerous 

 too numerous for the farmers in not a few localities. 

 Until we came south we had scarcely any idea of 

 how tame and trustful this species is when left 

 unmolested. We always knew it as one of the 

 shyest and wariest of birds, never allowing us to 

 approach it within gunshot unless it thought itself 

 unseen, and best shot from an ambuscade in the 

 woods or during the evening when it came to certain 

 favourite spots to roost. Gamekeepers shoot a 

 great many of these birds from the rough platforms 

 in the woods erected to scatter food upon for the 

 Pheasants. The Stock Dove is not so common, 

 but this is perhaps because it is not so conservative 

 in choice of a haunt, and is therefore scattered over 

 a much wider area. In some parts of South York- 

 shire and North Derbyshire it is known as the 

 " Rockier". We have few other birds that adapt 

 themselves to such a diversity of haunt, from the 

 dense woods to the bare warrens, quarries, and ocean 

 cliffs. Both these birds are breeding right through 

 the spring and summer, well into the autumn. On 

 the other hand, the Turtle Dove is a summer visitor 

 only to the woods; but it is a local and somewhat 

 scarce bird so far north as South Yorkshire. We know 

 it breeds regularly in the well-timbered country about 



