254 THE BIRDS OF DEVON". 



" Stock-Doves " breeding in trees there. Formerly, however, it appears 

 to have been only an irregular winter visitor to this county, appearing 

 in large flocks when beech-mast was plentiful. Both Dr. E. Moore and 

 Bellamy speak of flocks in winter, and the Rev. Thos. Johnes says, " I 

 have occasionally seen flocks of a middle-sized, dark-blue Pigeon, amount- 

 ing to many hundreds, flying about the valley of the Tamar in the latter 

 end of autumn, the weather l)eing mild, but have never been able to 

 procure any of them" (Bray's 'Tamar and Tavy,' vol. i. p. 351). Mr. J. 

 Gatcombe mentions in 187- that at the approach of winter multitudes of 

 Stock- Doves make their appearance in the woods at Tiverton, but states 

 that it was very rare in the neighbourhood of Plymouth (Zool. Ib72, 

 p. 3308). He also records some in Plymouth Market in June ISSl, said 

 to be the first ever received there, and observes that flocks annually visit 

 the more eastern parts of Devon in November (Zool. 1881, p. 19(5). Some 

 were killed at Pamphlete, near Plymouth, in January 1885 (Zool. 1S85, 

 p. 370). We never met with any Stock-Doves ourselves near Exeter until 

 the winter of 18(58-9, when flocks occurred in that neighbourhood, and 

 again in November and December 1872. We saw a pair near Topshara on 

 March 8th, 1876, and one April 8th, 1883. Pigeons seen by us about 

 the cliffs between Teignmouth and Dawlish in November 1874 and April 

 18,^0 may liave belonged to this species (W. D'U.). Probably the flock 

 of thirty Pigeons reported to have been seen in North Devon in 1875 

 consisted of Stock-Doves (Zool. 1875, p. 4299). A young bird was shot 

 in Ilton Wood, near Kingsbridge, at the end of August 1870. Many jvairs 

 were seen breeding on the clifls near the Bolt Head at the end of May, 

 and a small flock of these birds was seen and one shot at Collapit, 

 near Kingsbridge, October 31.st, 1887 ; and in August 1889 a large 

 flock was met with about llowdon, and oue bird was shot (E. A. S. E.). 



A few Stock-Doves haunt the cliffs to the west of Ilfracombe, and 

 probably breed in some likely-looking holes and fissures (0. V. A., Zool. 

 1887, p. 71). 



Flocks of Stock-Doves are occasionally seen in winter. At the time 

 Mr. E. H. llodd's book on the Birds of Cornwall was published (1880), no 

 instances of the Stock-Dove having bred in his county were on record : but 

 in May 188(5 Mr. F. 11. Podd detected a nest in an oak tree, and three 

 more in rabbit-earths in some gravel-pits on his estate of Trel)artha, near 

 Launceston, proving that, like the Starling, the Stock-Dove is extending 

 itself as a resident westwards in Cornwall. In Dorsetshire Mr, Mansel- 

 Pleydell considers this species to be on the increase, and states that 

 niimbers nest in the rabbit-earths in the sand-hills on tlie coast. Through- 

 out Somerset the Stock-Dove nests in a few scattered pairs, generally in 

 old pollard trees, but is nowhere numerous. In AVest Somerset, during a 

 deep snow, we shot a number of AVood- Pigeons by lying up in a thick 

 hedge, and waiting for the birds as they jiassed over to feed on some 

 turnips, and among them obtained a Stock-Dove, but we never saw any 

 flocks composed entirely of this species. The Stock-Dove is rarely seen in 

 the east of Somerset, and the only example which has occurred to us was 

 one we shot in our own shrubbery. 



