26 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



and in it, since it has been known to breed in an aban- 

 doned rabbit-liole. But, above all, it prefers the ledge 

 of a cliff, where there is a niche or crevice roomy enough 

 for its purpose. Just such a cliff is there on Peynard 

 Hill, behind my house, where the hard Cornstone overlies 

 a softer stratum of the Old Red ; and there the Stock- 

 dove finds the breeding-place of its- choice. 



This predilection of the Cohimha venas for rocks has 

 led to its being confused with th^e real Rock-dove {C. 

 livici). Here, in Herefordshire, whej-e the latter is rarer, 

 and of course less known, the Stock-dove is called Rock 

 pigeon, or rather " Rocky," — when spoken of in the 

 plural number, "Rockies." It is evident that this 

 erroneous nomenclature extended into Hampshire in the 

 days of Gilbert White, and that the "Rockiers" reported 

 to him by the almost octogenarian sportsmen were 

 Stock-doves. 



Neither are these last the progenitors of our pigeons, 

 though by a gentle gradation they draw nearer to it. 

 One more link, and we arrive at the real ancestry of the 

 bird for which we provide home and nesting-place. Un- 

 questionably is it descended from the pigeon of the sea- 

 cliffs. 



This, the Rock-dove (Colnmha livin), is even smaller 

 than the Stock, and, of course, also the domestic variety; 

 so that " the usual rule of domestication " is not falsified 

 by its being taken as the forefather of the last. The fact 

 that it is so is established by many points of resemblance. 

 The Rock-dove, like the other two wild species, is of a 

 slate-blue colour; but it has the transverse bands upon 

 its wings — wanting in both of these', and always present in 

 blue House pigeons. A characteristic yet more infallible 

 thing shows afhnity between the dove of the cliffs and 



