482 STOCK-DOVE. 
Dornoch Firths, while it is now found in Sutherland and West Ross ; 
and it has been obtained from time to time in the Orkneys and 
Shetlands. In Ireland, where it was first recognised in 1875 by the 
late Lord Clermont, and was supposed to be confined to the north- 
east, it is now known to nest also in co. Wicklow and some of the 
central districts. As a rule, it leaves the northern portions of our 
islands in October and returns in March. 
The Stock-Dove is found in Scandinavia, and in Russia up to 
about lat. 60°-61° N. as far east as the Ural Mountains ; while in 
many parts of Central Europe it is even more abundant than the 
Ring-Dove. In the south, as well as in Northern Africa, it is 
resident in limited numbers, though chiefly observed in winter as 
a migrant from colder regions ; eastward it can be traced in Asia as 
far as Eastern Turkestan and the edge of the Gobi desert. 
As already mentioned, rabbit-burrows, pollards, holes in trees, 
cliffs &c., are used as nesting-places, to which may be added cross- 
beams in old churches, matted ivy, former abodes of other birds, 
and squirrels’ dreys. The eggs—usually 2 in number, though 3 
have been found—are of a rather more creamy tint than those of the 
Ring- or the Rock-Dove: measurements 1°5 by 1*r'in. They are 
often laid by the middle of March, though usually in April, and 
have been found as late as October. In length of incubation and 
general habits this species resembles the Ring-Dove, but its note is 
shorter and less distinct, and has been described as “‘grunting”; while 
for its food the Stock-Dove consumes a larger proportion of the 
seeds of charlock and other weeds, as well as also beech-mast. Its 
flight is lighter and more rapid than that of its heavier and larger 
congener. A bird which appeared to be a hybrid between a Stock- 
Dove and a tame Pigeon was shot in Nottinghamshire (Zool. 1885, 
p- 150); and Mr. Tomalin has recorded the pairing of a male 
Stock-Dove with a Ring-Dove. 
The Stock-Dove differs from the Ring-Dove in having no white 
on the sides of the neck, and the nuchal patch of a greener tint ; 
the vinous-purple on the breast hardly comes below the line of the 
shoulders, while the lower parts are bluish-grey, as in the Rock-Dove; 
there is no white on the wings, but some black spots on the inner 
secondaries and wing-coverts form an imperfect bar; the axz//aries 
and under wing-coverts are grey. The whole length is only 13°5 in. ; 
wing 8:8 in. The female is slightly smaller than the male and her 
colours are less brilliant. The young have no shining metallic 
feathers on the neck before their first moult, and the dark spots on 
the wing-feathers are scarcely visible. Weight, about 13 ozs. 
