COLUMBIDZ. 481 
THE STOCK-DOVE. 
CoLumBaA Nas, Linneus. 
The Stock-Dove has often been confounded with the white- 
rumped Rock-Dove, and the name has even been erroneously sup- 
posed to signify that this species was the origin of our domestic 
breeds, though the prefix really refers to the bird’s habit of nesting 
in the “stocks” of trees: whence also the Danish ‘“ Huldue” and 
the German “ Hohltaube,” both meaning Hole-Dove. In England 
the Stock-Dove has greatly increased in numbers of late years, and, 
though somewhat local, is tolerably frequent in most districts where 
old timber exists, especially in the remains of our ancient forests, and 
also in our parks, even when close to London. It inhabits wooded 
crags in the Isle of Wight as well as similar localities in Wales, the 
clitfs of Dorset, some parts of Devon, Derbyshire, and even those near 
Flamborough Head in Yorkshire. In treeless areas, such as are met 
with in Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincolnshire, the East Riding of Yorkshire, 
Lancashire, Cumberland &c., it deposits its eggs in rabbit-burrows, 
or under the shelter of dense furze; while in many places it is 
persistently misnamed ‘ Rock-Dove’ or even ‘Blue Rock’ by the 
inhabitants. In Scotland, as long ago as 1885 it had extended its 
range as a breeding-species to the sand-hills along the Moray and 
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