1912-1913-] Notes on the Stockdove. $7 



feathers, indicating that the bird must have had a narrow 

 escape in its undergroud nesting-place. 



As already said, the stockdove used to be rare in this 

 country, and not till within the last twenty-five or thirty 

 years have I observed any. Mr Muirhead, in ' The Birds of 

 Berwickshire,' records that it made its appearance at Paxton 

 in 1887. In the 'Proceedings of the Eoyal Physical Society' 

 for 1881-1883, p. 251, it is stated, "This bird does not 

 appear to have been observed in Scotland before 1874 or 

 1875, when it was seen in Perthshire." It is a fact, however, 

 that birds come and go without any apparent reason, and it is 

 beyond question that on previous occasions they frequented 

 this country. The Eev. F. 0. Morris, in his ' British Birds,' 

 published long before the date mentioned, refers to it in both 

 England and Scotland. Again, who does not know that 

 beautiful song " Afton Water," written by Burns in 1789, 

 in which we find the lines — 



" Thou stockdove whose echo resounds through the glen, 

 Ye wild whistling blackbirds in yon thorny den ; 

 Thou green crested lapwing, thy screaming forbear, 

 I charge you disturb not my slumbering fair." 



It is not conceivable that such a close observer of nature as 

 Burns should have included in this beautiful song the habits 

 of the stockdove if no such bird existed. 



Our pigeons, it was at one time asserted, are descended 

 from one common progenitor, namely, the stockdove, so called 

 because of its building its nest in the stock or stem of 

 trees. Others, however, hold that all have their origin in 

 the rock-pigeon. It is difficult to believe, in view of the 

 diversity of the breeds, that either theory can be correct. 

 Prom the difference in the shape of the cushet, the pouter, 

 the homer, the tumbler, the jacobine, the fantail, and others, 

 it has been suggested that several species come from different 

 aboriginal stocks, and many treatises in various languages 

 have been published on the subject, some of which are of 

 considerable antiquity. Darwin, in his ' Origin of Species,' 

 however, maintains that all are descended from the rock- 

 pigeon, and, after long and patient experiments, he advances 

 arguments in support of this contention. 



