Class II. RING DOVE. 393 



The ring dove is the largest pigeon we have ; 

 and may be at once distinguished from all 

 others by the size. Its weight is about twenty Descrip- 

 ounces ; its length eighteen inches ; its breadth ^^°^° 

 thirty. The head, back, and coverts of the 

 wings are of a bluish ash color ; the lower side 

 of the neck and the breast are of a purplish red, 

 dashed with ash color ; on the hind part of the 

 neck is a semicircular line of white; above 

 and beneath that the feathers are glossy, and of 

 changeable colors as opposed to the light ; the 

 belly is of a dirty white ; the greater quil fea- 

 thers are dusky ; the rest ash colored ; under- 

 neath the bastard wing is a white stroke point- 

 ing downwards. 



[The Ring dove, like the preceding species, 

 quits Sweden in the autumn, and returns early 

 in the spring ; it is not found in Norxvay or 

 within the arctic zone, by reason not only of 

 the cold but of defect of food.* Ed.] 



* Arct. Zool. ii. 10. 



