RINCi-DOVB. — Columba palumbus. 



UTOCK-DOVE.—Cohmba^cenas, 



out some convenient hollow, and placing their eggs within. Other localities are, however 

 selected for the purpose of incubation, among which a deserted rabbit-burrow is among 

 the most common. The nest is hardly worthy of the name, being a mere collection of 

 dry fibrous roots, laid about three or four feet within the entrance, just thick enough to 

 keep the eggs from the ground, but not sufficiently woven to constitute a true nest. In 

 some places when the keepers discover a brood they make a network of sticks at the 

 mouth of the hole, so that the young cannot escape, although they can be fed by the 

 parents from without, and when they are sufficiently large and plump they are taken for 

 the table. 



Now and then the Stock-Dove takes up its residence under thick furze-bushes, 

 especially those which have grown close to the ground, and into which little openings 

 have been made by the rabbits. The voice of the Stock-Dove is rather curious, being a 

 hollow rumbling or grunting kind of note, quite unlike the well-known cooing of the 

 Eing-Dove. 



The head, neck, and back and wing-coverts are bluish grey, the primary quill-feathers 

 of the wing taking a deeper hue, the secondaries being pearl-grey deepening at the tips, 

 and the tertials being blue-grey with twO or three spots. The chin is blue-grey, the sides 

 of the neck slaty grey glossed with green, and the breast purplish red. The specific name 

 of " oenas," or wine-coloured, is given to the bird on account of the peculiar hue of the 

 throat. The whole of the under surface is grey, and the tail-feathers are coloured with 

 grey of several tones, the outside feathers having the basal portion of the outer web white. 

 The beak is deep orange, the eyes scarlet, and the legs and toes red. The total length is 

 about fourteen inches, the female being a little smaller. 



