52 COLUMBID.E. 



all accounts speak of hundreds and even thousands of Rock 

 Doves congregating together by the rocks along some sea- 

 coasts. 



The Rock Dove has no song, but a cooing vocabulary, 

 which is much in use during the pairing season ; and its 

 courting appears to be such a regular and premeditated 

 matter of business, that it is very amusing to the beholder. 

 The male bird walks up to his chosen bride, with great dignity 

 in his manner and his head carried very high ; he then bows 

 most profoundly to her, all the time turning round in circles 

 and half-circles, with a drooping and outspread tail. During 

 this courtship the low rumbling sound which constitutes its 

 note is continually repeated, in expressing which the body is 

 inclined horizontally, so that the beak almost touches the 

 ground, and on raising himself again he takes a step forward ; 

 but the advances of the ardent lover are not always met with 

 complacency, the little mate frequently bestowing upon him 

 a slap with her raised wing. 



The food of the Rock Dove consists of grain of almost 

 all descriptions, and seeds, of which it goes in daily pur- 

 suit about the fields, and which is preferred in a ripe state, 

 and consumed as soon as obtained. But oats and rye do not 

 agree with their constitution at all times, nor do the Rock 

 Doves feed on these last-mentioned grains, if any others 

 are within their reach. During the season of the year at 

 which grain, seeds, peas, &c, are standing on the ground, 

 the Rock Doves feed on them in large companies : but when 

 these several cultivated productions are housed, the birds in 

 question resort to seeds of wild plants that grow in woods, 

 by road sides, and in the crevices of rocks. It has not come 

 to our notice that the Rock Doves ever feed on worms, but 

 small snail shells and maggots have been found in their 

 stomachs, to which, from some cause or other, they had 

 been compelled to resort when their usual food had become 



