STOCK-DOVES, WOOD-PIGEONS, SNIPE 49 



and here, like him, the male will court the female as 

 though on the familiar bough.* When I have seen 

 him courting her thus on the ground, the low bow 

 which he makes her has been prefaced by one or 

 more curious hops, which I have not seen in the 

 stock-dove's courting. They look curious because 

 they are so out of character, hopping being, as far 

 as I know, a mode of progression foreign to all the 

 columbidce. Whether the wood-pigeon hops upon any 

 other occasion I cannot be sure. If he does not — 

 and it is certainly not his usual habit — his adoption 

 of it here may be looked upon as a purely nuptial 

 antic. In this the lark, which is also a stepping 

 and not a hopping bird, keeps him company, as 

 would the cormorant, were it not that he hops often 

 as a matter of convenience. Larks I have not seen 

 hop in everyday life, though sometimes I have 

 thought that they did when running quickly over 

 ploughed land in winter, as starlings often do when 

 they break from a run which has become too quick 

 for them into a running hop. But I came to the 

 conclusion that this was only apparent, and due to 

 their up and down motion over the clods of earth. 

 A hop is quite foreign to the lark's disposition, yet, 

 when courting, " the male bird advances upon the 

 female with wings drooped, crest and tail raised, 

 and with a series of impressive hops." The hop of 

 the wood-pigeon, under similar circumstances, is of a 

 heavy and deliberate nature, as might be expected his 

 build and size, and has the same set and formal from 

 character as the bow which immediately follows it. 

 The turtle-dove bows too, in courtship, but it is a 

 * The same remark applies to the turtle-dove. 

 D 



