8-i A CATALOGUE OF TH£ B1K1)S 



occasionally seen moving southwards. In January, 1873, an 

 extraordinary number of these Pigeons were observed at Mars- 

 den, 'moving in a south-eastern direction, following the coast 

 line. They were two days in passing, and many of them were 

 killed by the farmers in the neighbourhood. 



JS'ear Elgin, I once took the nest of this species on the ground, 

 amidst heather, under a branch of a Scotch fir, which stood, a 

 solitary tree, in an extensive open space in a large wood. 



This species has, in the last ten or twelve years, greatly in- 

 creased in numbers, to the serious injury of the agriculturist in 

 Scotland : it is much complained of also in l!«[orthumberland. 

 In a letter from my old friend, the late J. C. Langlands, Esq., 

 of Old Bewick, he says, " Another evil arising from the destruc- 

 tion of the birds of prey, and especially of the Magpies, is, that 

 in this country we are preyed upon by immense flocks of the 

 Cushats or Wild Pigeons. 



2. Stock Dove. C. jei^as, Linnaus. 



Columha cenas, Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 2, II., 83. 

 ,, ,, Degland et Gerbe, Orn. Europ., II., 8. 



A resident. It is only recently that the Stock Dove has made 

 its appearance in this district. A single example was shot in 

 Castle Eden Dene on the 26th of October, 1869, by Mr. John 

 Sclater, butler to Rowland Burdon, Esq., and is now in the pos- 

 session of the former, where I saw it shortly after it was obtained. 

 In 1871, I was informed by Mr. Sclater, that the gamekeeper 

 had taken, in a rabbit trap, another specimen, likewise in Castle 

 Eden Dene, and that he (Mr. Sclater) had found its nest the 

 day after. It was built at the root of a yew tree, that had 

 been blown down over the edge of a cliif. I am informed by 

 Mr. Dale, of Brancepeth, that the Stock Dove has recently made 

 its appearance in that neighbourhood, and is now breeding there. 

 In "The Eield" of May 21st, 1872, Mr. Sclater writes, "After 

 I found the nest two years ago, as recorded in " The Field" of 

 March 2;Jrd, 1872, Mr. Burdon gave orders for its protection, and 

 it is multiplying very quickly. And I observe, by " The Field" 



