152 THE BIRDS OF CALCUTTA. 



even to attack the blackguard crow, even it not, as 

 Shakespeare says, to " peck the estridge." They are 

 the best of parents, too : if the wild cock dove is like 

 his tame relative, he is a most admirable husband 

 and father, taking his fair share of the sitting, i.e., 

 most of the day time, and feeding his young just as 

 assiduously as their mother does ; first with the 

 " pigeon's milk " secreted in the crop, and afterwards 

 with softened grain and other vegetable food. 



The vegetarian habits of the Doves, and their 

 want of special weapons for fighting and of means of 

 defence, have no doubt given them their reputation 

 for gentleness, which is really hardly deserved, in 

 respect of their relations to each other. Harmless to 

 other birds not of their own species or family they 

 undoubtedly are ; but among themselves, and with 

 other members of the tribe, the Doves generally 

 display a spirit of nagging which leads one to suspect 

 that the author, who spoke of the " mild, humble, 

 patient, peaceful dove " had never made the 

 acquaintance of the bird outside a pigeon-pie. The 

 terms " pigeon " and " dove " seem to have originally 

 been, to a certain extent, interchangeable ; but now 

 the latter term has been confined in use almost 

 exclusively to the smaller members of the family, 

 such as our present subject. Mild, then, the Dove 

 certainly is not, but a most inveterate pugilist in a 



