STOCK-DOVE. 403 



rabbit--vrarrenSj laying its eggs in their holes several feet from the entrance, 

 often upon the hare sand or on a scanty nest of a few twigs. Other and 

 more curious sites have been recorded. It has been known to lay its eggs 

 on a cross-beam in the spire of a church, and repeatedly on the ground 

 under a dense furze bush. It sometimes makes its scanty nest in a wood- 

 stack in the forest ; and its eggs have been found laid on a very thick and 

 dense Scotch fir-branch, with no other nest whatever. The nest of this 

 bird, when it does make one, is usually composed of a few twigs, dry roots, 

 heather-stalks, &c. The eggs of the Stock-Dove are never more than 

 two in number, and are pale creamy white in colour — a characteristic 

 which always distinguishes them from those of the Ring-Dove or the Rock- 

 Dove. They vary in length from 1"5 to 1'4 inch, and in breadth from 

 1'2 to 1"13 inch. Both birds assist in the task of incubation, but the 

 female sits the most. The young are hatched in about eighteen days, and, 

 as is usual in this group of birds, they remain in the nest for a considerable 

 time, never quitting it until well able to fly. Afterwards they generally 

 betake themselves to the neighbouring pastures, and the old birds rear a 

 second or even a third brood. Fresh eggs of this species have been found 

 as late as the beginning of October. 



The note of the Stock-Dove is not quite so melodious as that of the 

 Eing-Dove, nor is it so distinct or prolonged. In autumn great numbers 

 of Stock-Doves often congregate with Ring-Doves, and frequent the 

 stubbles and newly sown lands. Dixon writes : — " In some parts of 

 Lincolnshire the Stock-Dove is almost better known than the Wood- 

 Pigeon, and occurs in even greater numbers than that well-known bird. 

 I have often seen the large fields contain several flocks of this Dove, and 

 mingled with them a small number of domestic Pigeons and a few Ring- 

 Doves, easily distinguished by the white in the wings and their conspicuous 

 collars. These broad farmlands are the Doves^ favourite pastures from 

 the time the corn and beans are cut till the following spring. In such 

 districts are numerous fir-plantations, and these are the nightly retreats of 

 both species. I have sometimes watched them return from the fields just 

 before dusk, and noticed how silently they dashed into the cover, the 

 rattling of their wings amongst the branches being the only sound they 

 made, for at this season they seldom or never coo. In autumn the Stock- 

 Doves frequent the bean- and pea-fields, where they do considerable damage; 

 but this they partly compensate for by consuming millions of tiny seeds 

 of most noxious weeds, such as charlock. The bird often perches on the 

 bean-stacks ; and in severe weather it will do so in the farmyards.^' 



The food of the Stock -Dove consists chiefly of grain and seeds, but it 

 does not appear to consume so many shoots of clover and grain as the 

 Ring-Dove. It is also said to eat acorns and beach-mast, and sometimes 

 berries. Stock-Doves are voracious feeders, and though they consume a 



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