86 A CATALOGUE OP THE BIKD.S 



1835, at N'ew'biggin-by-the-Sea, which is certainly a true wild 

 Kock Dove. 



This species is in great abundance, breeding in the cliffs at 

 Gordenstown, near Covesea, in the neighbourhood of Elgin. 

 Here I had a capital opportunity of observing a large colony of 

 these birds, and I shot several specimens. A pair of Peregrines 

 had taken up their abode and reared their young in a hollow in 

 the cliff close to the nesting places of the Pigeons, and were 

 feeding their nestlings on the tender flesh of their neighbours, 

 preferring it evidently to that of the Herring Gulls that were 

 likewise breeding in. the same locality, and flying about close to 

 them unheeded and unheeding. 



The escaped domestic Pigeon always breeds in cliffs or in old 

 buildings, in exactly similar situations to those chosen by the 

 Eock Dove, and in this fact alone is strong evidence of the rela- 

 tionship of the two. The so-called Stock Dove, on the contrary, 

 takes for its nesting place hollow stems of old decayed trees. 



89. TURTUR, Selby. 

 4. TunTLE Dove. T. aubitus, Ray. 



Columba turtur, Bewick, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 1847, I., 321. 

 „ Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 2, II., 299. 



Several specimens of this casual visitant have been killed in 

 the neighbourhood of Newcastle : one was shot on the Town 

 Moor, and another at Prestwick Car. On the l7tli of May, 

 1856, a gamekeeper of the late Sir Hedworth Williamson, 

 Bart., killed a fine male specimen near Whitburn, Durham : 

 another occuiTed near Shotton Colliery, on the 12th of October, 

 1870; this had no black on the neck, and was therefore pro" 

 bably a young bird. 



This species has never been known to breed in cither county^ 



