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Columba schimperi more than Columba livia, though the rump was of a lighter colour than the 

 rest of the back. There were plenty of them about the rocks on the north side of the harbour, 

 and they appeared quite wild." Von Nordmann remarks that he has not been able to verify its 

 occurrence in the portions of Southern Russia where he collected, and doubts if it is really found 

 there. In Asia Minor and in Greece it is tolerably common, and breeds in the high rocks in 

 many localities. In Greece it is supposed to raise several broods in the season, the first eggs 

 being deposited in April. In the Cyclades it is said to be resident ; but in Macedonia it is com- 

 paratively rare in winter. In Crete it breeds in large numbers, as also on Naxos. In the Ionian 

 Islands, according to Lord Lilford (Ibis, 1860, p. 236) it is "very common, and resident on the 

 coasts of Albania, Epirus, and Corfu. Near the mouth of the river Kalamo these birds breed 

 on the bare rocks, after the manner of some of the Gulls. On the peninsula of Pagania there is 

 a curious natural pit, some 60 or 70 feet in depth, frequented by this species in great numbers. 

 In this, my servant (who was once lowered into it by a rope for the purpose of forcing out the 

 Doves) had an encounter with a wild cat, which at last retreated into a side gallery and was lost 

 sight of. On throwing stones down this pit, a dozen or two of Doves, Blue Thrushes, Black- 

 birds, Little Owls, and Nuthatches (Sitta syriaca) would often dash out in confusion, with now 

 and then a large Bat, and on one occasion a Peregrine Falcon. There are small colonies of 

 Bock-Doves in many parts of the coast of the island of Corfu, particularly at Paleocastrizza and 

 near Porto Serpente." 



Canon Tristram, referring to this bird in Palestine, writes (Ibis, 1868, p. 209): — "Columba 

 livia is extremely abundant on the coast and highlands west of the Jordan. My specimens can 

 in no way be distinguished from those from the Orkney Islands. But inland and in the Jordan 

 valley its place is taken by the allied species, Columba schimperi, Bp. The myriads of these 

 birds are beyond computation, far exceeding even the clouds of domestic Pigeons. The wadys, 

 with precipitous cliffs of soft limestone, honeycombed in all directions by caves and fissures, are 

 admirably adapted for them. Several of these gorges are named from them ' Wady Hamam,' 

 i. e. Ravine of Pigeons. One of the most remarkable is the Wady Hamam opening on the plain 

 of Gennesaret, where are the famed robbers' caves, the scene of our principal bird-nesting 

 exploits, inhabited by thousands of Columba schimperi, whose swift flight and roosting-places far 

 in the fissures secure them from the attacks of the many Hawks which share the caverns with 

 them. They likewise swarm in the ravine of the Kelt, in the sides of Mount Quarantania, by 

 Jericho, and, above all, in the cliffs which shut in the Arnon and the Zerka, in Moab, where 

 their abundance is alluded to by the prophet Jeremiah. So secure are their nesting-places, that 

 we never took more than half a dozen sittings of eggs, though we saw hundreds of nesting-holes ; 

 but their turns and twistings rendered even the device of a stick and a spoon unavailing." 



In North-east Africa this Pigeon is very abundant. Von Heuglin says that it is found 

 throughout Egypt and Nubia, and along the Nile southwards to the rapids of Dar Berber ; and, 

 according to Brehm, it inhabits Abyssinia and the southern portion of Arabia Petrsea. Dr. Leith 

 Adams remarks (Ibis, 1864, p. 26), "In Egypt it is not easy to define the limits between 

 the wild and domesticated Pigeons, their plumage being so much alike. The denizens of the 

 dove-cotes all preserve the leading characteristics of Columba livia. Many-coloured birds are 



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