Rock-Dove. RASORES. COLUMBA. 411 



tions consisting in the colour of the rump, which, in the 

 Columba ^nas, is invariably bluish-grey, but in the present 

 species generally white ; in the two distinct bands or bars 

 crossing the wings of the latter bird ; and in the colour of 

 the breast and belly, which, in the former, is more of a 

 purplish-red. The dissimilarity of their habits, however, 

 marks even more strongly the specific difference between 

 them, than the proofs drawn from the plumage, since (as I 

 have already mentioned the Stock-Dove to be a constant in- 

 habitant of woods, and to frequent the interior of the coun- 

 try), the species now under consideration is, in its wild state, 

 always met with inhabiting rocky places, and those princi- 

 pally on the sea-coast. In Britain, it is found in various 

 cliff's along the wide extent of our shores, of which I may 

 here mention those of Caldy Island, in South Wales;* and 

 is also a never-failing resident in the wild precipices of the 

 Orkneys, breeding in the caves, which are there numerous, 

 and of large dimensions ; and where, according to Low, it 

 retires to the inmost recesses, beyond the situations chosen 

 for incubation by the Auks, Gulls, and other aquatic fowls. 



It is very numerous in the rocky islands of the Mediter- 

 ranean, where it also lives and breeds in caverns on the shore; 

 and is equally abundant in the north of Africa, especially in 

 the Island of Tenerifte, where it is met with in incredible 

 numbers. 



With us, and indeed throughout Europe, it is better 

 known as in a state of voluntary subjection, inhabiting build- 

 ings made purposely for its reception, or betaking itself to 

 ruinous edifices, church towers, &c. It is from this species 

 that most of our curious varieties of Pigeon have arisen ; for 

 some later ones may have been derived from crosses with 

 other species. Of these various kinds, Latham enumerates 



* It also inhabits the caves in the cliff at St Abb's Head, on the Ber- 

 wickshire coast, in considerable numbers , as well as those in the Isle of 

 Bass, in the Frith of Forth. 



