Family COLUMBID^. Genus Columba. 



ROCK DOVE. 



COLUMBA lAYlPi.—Brisson. 

 Geographical Distribution.— ^«V/j-/^ .• Throughout the 



rocky coasts of the British Islands, extending to St. Kilda. 

 Colonies of white-rumped Doves occur in many inland districts 

 on rocks and the sides of quarries, and are unquestionably tame 

 or domestic Doves which have become feral. Foreign: Pate- 

 arctic region. Wild birds apparently confined to coasts ; inland 

 colonies descendants of tame birds. Resident on Faroes, but 

 only one breeding place is known in Scandinavia, in the Stavanger 

 Fjord. Breeds in the Pyrenees and in the Sierra Nevada. All 

 Atlantic islands, including St. Helena. Rock-bound coasts of 

 Mediterranean, Black and Red Seas, and mountain-chains 

 adjacent. Intricately intermingled with tame birds is found from 

 Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia, through Asia Minor and Persia, 

 Beloochistan, Cashmere, and the Altai, across South Siberia to 

 North China and Japan. 



Allied Forms. — Columba intermedia, an inhabitant of India 

 and Ceylon. Differs from the Rock Dove in having the rump 

 dark. C. rupestris, an inhabitant of the eastern Patearctic 

 region, from Turkestan to North China, and from the Altai to the 

 Himalayas. Differs from the Rock Dove in having a broad sub- 

 terminal white band across the tail. All these Doves interbreed 

 wherever their range impinges. 



Time during which the Rock Dove may be taken.— 

 August I St to March ist ; otherwise by authority of owner or 

 occupier of land. 



Habits. — The Rock Dove, the original stock from which the 

 endless varieties of domestic Pigeon have descended, is a 



