ROCK DOVE. 55 



The iris is a rich ruby-colour, the eyelids are reddish. 

 The legs and feet are blood-red, and largely scaled in 

 front of the tarsi and on the upper surface of the toes. 

 The general colouring of the feathers is slate-blue, with 

 the exception of the rump, which is white, and thus differs 

 in that respect at all times from the stock dove. About the 

 lower part of the neck and upper part of the breast the Rock 

 Dove has a metallic lustre on the feathers, which varies from 

 green to purple according to the light in which it is seen. 

 The general slate colour is darkest about the head, neck, and 

 breast, as also the upper tail coverts, and lightest on the 

 wings. Two black bars, which stand about three quarters of 

 an inch apart, are produced on the wings, by a black spot on 

 each feather of the larger wing coverts, forming one band ; 

 and the other by the black on the shaft feathers of the 

 tertials. The quill feathers are cinereous dusky. The 

 tail feathers are slate coloured, with a broad dusky band 

 across the tip ; the basal half of the outer tail feather is 

 white. The male and female are very much alike in colour- 

 ing, but the latter is generally the smallest in size, and its 

 colouring is less clear. 



The egg figured 1 45 is that of the Rock Dove. 



