12 



Adult Male (Faeroes) . Head and neck dark slate-blue, the neck glossed all round with green, below which, 

 on the fore part and sides of the neck, it is richly shot with coppery purple ; back and lesser wing- 

 coverts pale dove-blue ; lower back and rump white ; upper tail-coverts and basal portion of the tail 

 slate-blue, the terminal portion of the tail black ; quills dull pale slate-blue tinged with brown towards 

 the tips ; rest of the wings pale dove-blue crossed by two black bands ; underparts dark dove-blue with 

 a slaty tinge ; under wing-coverts and axillaries white, the edge of the wing dove-blue ; bill reddish 

 brown; iris orange; legs reddish. Total length about 11 inches, culmen 0"8, wing 8 - 5, tail 4 - 6, 

 tarsus T2. 



Adult Female (Faeroes). Resembles* the male, but is rather smaller, and duller in general coloration. 



Young. Very much duller in general coloration, and having the black bands on the wing less clearly defined 

 than in the adult, and there is but little of the green gloss on the neck. 



The present species, which, it is now almost universally admitted, is the stock from which all our 

 tame varieties of the Pigeon have sprung, is tolerably widely distributed, being found, though 

 locally, from Northern Scandinavia into Northern Africa, and to the eastward its range extends 

 into China and Japan. 



In Great Britain the Bock-Dove is tolerably common in suitable localities where there are 

 high cliffs and heavy rocks, in the crannies and caves of which it can find shelter. Mr. A. G. 

 More, speaking of its breeding-range in Great Britain, says (Ibis, 1865, p. 141): — "Commencing 

 from the south of England, the Rock-Dove used to breed formerly at Purbeck (Bev. H. Austin) ; 

 but there is no direct evidence of its having ever bred in the Isle of Wight. 



" Mr. E. H. Bodd includes the Bock-Dove in his list as breeding occasionally in Cornwall. 

 The Eev. M. A. Mathews has observed it building in the cliffs about Lynton. Mr. W. D. Crotch 

 reports it as breeding in Somersetshire. The bird is said to be common in Gloucester and 

 Monmouth. 



" Sir W. Jardine gives Caldey Island as a locality ; and Mr. Tracy marks the bird as breeding 

 in Pembrokeshire. The Rev. H. Harpur Crewe has observed it breeding in Denbighshire ; and 

 there are probably several other localities in South and North Wales. 



" Mr. J. F. Brockholes tells me that there is a colony at Beeston Castle, Cheshire, and that 

 he once noticed a pair frequenting the high banks of the Mersey during the breeding-season. 

 Mr. C. S. Gregson informs me that the Eock-Dove breeds at Whitbarrow Scar ; and Mr. J. B. 

 Hodgkinson has found its nest occasionally in Cumberland : it breeds also in the Isle of Man, as 

 I learn from my obliging correspondent Mr. J. F. Crellin. 



" On the east coast of England the Eock-Dove breeds only at Flamborough ; it also breeds 

 in a few rocky valleys or inland cliffs in Derby, York, Leicester, Stafford, Shropshire, and 

 Somerset." 



To this I may add that I have certainly seen the Eock-Dove in the Isle of Wight late in 

 March ; and, referring to its supposed occurrence in Somerset, Mr. Cecil Smith writes to me 

 that he is "doubtful as to its being really an inhabitant of this county; I included it in my 

 ' Birds of Somerset ' on the authority of the Eev. M. A. Mathew, who told me that a colony had 

 taken up their abode near Weston-super-Mare ; and since then, in February 1871, I saw some 

 Eock-Doves at a place called Uphill, not very far from Weston-super-Mare. I pointed these out 



