480 RING-DOVE. 
numbers receive additions in winter. In London every park, and 
nearly every square, is now frequented by this species. 
The Ring-Dove occasionally wanders to the Feeroes, and is found 
in summer over the wooded districts of Europe up to lat. 65°-66° N. ; 
but the northern birds migrate from the colder regions in winter, 
and join those which are resident in the central and southern 
districts as well as in Northern Africa. The nearer islands of the 
Azores and Madeira seem to mark the western limit, while eastward 
the range cannot be traced with certainty beyond long. 60° E., a 
meridian which skirts the Ural Mountains and the Persian Gulf. 
Breeding begins in March or early in April, while a second clutch 
of eggs is usually laid in June, and a third brcod is often produced 
in October. The nest, slightly built of twigs laid cross-wise, is 
placed in almost any kind of tree; frequently in thick ivy on cliffs 
and old walls, commonly in bushes or hedge-rows, and sometimes on 
former habitations of other birds or squirrels. The eggs, usually 2, 
but exceptionally 3 in number, are oval and pure glossy white: 
measurements 1°6 by 1:2 in. They are laid at intervals of two or 
three days, and incubation lasts about seventeen; the male, as a 
rule, sitting in the day-time. The young are blind and helpless 
till about the ninth day, and remain in the nest until able to fly; 
being fed at first with a curd-like secretion from the crops of their 
parents, and afterwards by regurgitated food. Grain of all sorts, 
peas, young clover, the leaves and bulbs of turnips, beech-nuts and 
berries, with seeds of a good many plants, form the chief articles 
of diet. ‘The. Ring-Dove is strictly monogamous, and in summer 
is generally seen in pairs, but in cold weather it becomes gregarious. 
Exceptionally it has been known to breed in confinement, and 
also to produce a hybrid with the domestic Pigeon. Its note is the 
well-known coo 700, coo coo. 
The adult male has the head bluish-grey ; sides and back of the 
neck glossed with violet and green, which is bounded on each side 
by a patch of white; mantle brownish-grey ; wing-coverts grey, 
broadly edged with white, which forms a conspicuous bar; lower 
back slate-grey ; tail-feathers nearly black, except at their bases ; 
breast rich vinous-purple, belly paler, flanks and vent ash-grey. 
Length 17 in.; wing 1o in. The female is smaller and somewhat 
duller in colour. The young before their first moult have no white 
on the sides of the neck, and their tints are less pure, but the adult 
plumage is assumed the first year. There is only one moult in 
the year. Varieties more or less spotted with white, and even 
perfect albinoes, are sometimes met with. Weight, from 17-26 ozs. 
