BIRDS 315 



Dr. Gough did not include the Stock Dove in his local list, 

 but Mr. Archibald finds a few pairs breeding in the Eusland 

 Valley ; they undoubtedly nest about Appleby. When we cross 

 the county boundary we find the Stock Dove well established in 

 the Edenhali woods and the valley of the Eden. I have seen 

 young birds taken from the Lyne, and believe this species to 

 breed in the limestone scars of Eastern Westmorland, and 

 locally among the central mountains of the Lake district. 

 Mr. W. Hodgson wrote of Ulleswater in 1885 : 'The Stock 

 Dove has of late years taken up its quarters at more than one 

 station among the hills, where its low plaintive cooing is first 

 heard at the beginning of March.' 1 I have occasionally 

 observed small parties of Stock Doves flying across our salt 

 marshes; on Nov. 4, 1889, I happened to walk almost on to 

 the top of a single Stock Dove, which was drinking at a small 

 ' dub ' on Burgh marsh. At Wright Green, near Cockermouth, 

 the Stock Dove has been known as a breeding bird only since 

 1884. Mr. Dickinson found one nest on the ground under 

 cover of a very thick whin-bush. 



EOCK DOVE. 



Colurriba livia, Bonnat. 



The Bock Dove may fairly be considered a Lakeland species, 

 inasmuch as the northern portion of this region receives 

 irregular and infrequent visits from veritable 'Blue Bocks/ 

 such as we are accustomed to meet with in the caves of the 

 Hebrides. For example, during the severe weather of January 

 1891, a small flock of these wild pigeons appeared in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Allonby. I saw one that had been secured alive, a 

 veritable ' cave pigeon.' Whether the species really breeds in 

 fissures among the precipices of the Lake mountains, as some 

 people report, has never been determined; although I have 

 often invited those who support this hypothesis to produce 

 specimens. Most probably some of the birds reported as 

 ' Eock Doves ' are the descendants of stray dovecot pigeons, 

 which have partly reverted to feral conditions. Others are 

 1 Trans. Cumberland and Westmorland Assoc, xi. p. 22. 



