34 NATURE AND WOODCRAFT. 



couple of eggs is laid ; and this goes on until 

 the end of July. The nests are from two to 

 three feet down the burrow ; and in flying 

 homewards the birds drop right at the mouth 

 of the hole, and not at a distance, as is some- 

 times stated. There is abundant evidence that 

 the food of this species consists less of culti- 

 vated crops and more of the seeds of weeds and 

 grasses, beech-mast, and acorns. If this charac- 

 teristic is continued as the species increases in 

 number (and this it is certainly doing), the 

 Stock-dove will become as great a friend to 

 the farmer as its congeners are his enemies. 

 All weed-devourers are beneficial to agriculture. 

 The Rock-dove is a beautiful blue pigeon, 

 and the smallest of the five British species. 

 As its name implies, it builds in rocks, and for 

 the most part among the cliifs of the sea-coast. 

 It is often confounded with its congeners, on 

 account of their occasionally nesting in like 

 situations; but it may easily be distinguished 

 from the Ring-dove by the absence of the ring 

 round the neck, and from the Stock- dove by its 

 white bodice. When the bird builds in escarp- 

 ments and can be observed from above, this 

 last characteristic and the pale-blue of its 



