RING-DOVE. 399 



smell ; and these excrements are never removed from the nest (as is the 

 case with the Starling, for instance), but are suffered to remain. They 

 soon harden on being exposed to the air, and, combined with the platform 

 of sticks, form a structure, strong and durable, for the young birds to 

 inhabit imtil they are able to fly.^' 



The food of the Ring-Dove is varied, but confined chiefly to vegetable 

 substances. In the summer they subsist on tender shoots of clover, green 

 corn, peas, beans, and even fruit ; and I have taken from the crops of 

 nestling birds ears of corn, small pieces of flinty stone, and numbers of 

 small land and freshwater shells. In autumn, when the birds to a great 

 extent become gregarious and assemble in large and small flocks, often of 

 a thousand birds or more, the Ring-Dove's diet is changed; then it eats 

 all kinds of ripe grain, the seeds of vetches and other plants, many of 

 which are very troublesome to the agriculturist. At this season they 

 search under the oak trees for acorns and under the beech trees for mast, 

 sometimes feeding in the branches. They also frequent the stubbles, 

 especially those sown with clover. It also eats many kinds of fruits and 

 berries, such as hips and haws, blackberries, holly- and yew-berries. It 

 has also been known to eat hazel-nuts, which it swallows whole ; and in 

 winter, when, hard-pressed for food, it will consume the slender shoots of 

 sprouting turnips and has even been found with its crop distended with 

 large pieces of the turnip itself, which had probably been nibbled by sheep. 

 It is an extremely voracious feeder, and consequently, where the bird is 

 numerous, it is a great pest to the farmer. Great flights of Ring-Doves 

 come to this country in autumn, which chiefly frequent the open fields in 

 the daytime, but at dusk retire to the neighbouring plantations and woods 

 to roost. The Ring-Dove at this season is. silent, its well-known call being 

 peculiar to the breeding-season. This bird drinks very frequently, and is 

 also fond of bathing and sanding itself. Like other Pigeons, it is very 

 fond of salt and has been observed to eat seaweed left bare on the rocks at 

 low water. As some sort of recompense for the great damage it does to 

 the crops, it must be remembered that the flesh of this bird is very 

 palatable, and enormous numbers find their way into the markets. The 

 Ring-Dove is easily kept in confineanent when taken young, and there are 

 several instances on record where it has even bred in captivity. 



The general colour of the upper parts of the Ring-Dove are pale slate- 

 grey or lavender-colour, suffused with a metallic gloss on the nape and 

 sides of the neck, which is emerald-green in some lights and pinkish purple 

 in others. On each side of the neck is a large patch of white ; the mantle, 

 scapulars, and iimermost secondaries are greyish brown, shading into 

 lavender on the wing- coverts, but suddenly changing to white on the 

 outside web of the outermost wing-coverts. The primary- coverts are dark 

 brown ; the wiugs are dark brown, each feather margiaed with white on 



