BIRDS. 



259 



everybody's satisfaction. Mr. Robert Gray has spoken very fully of 

 it in his Birds of the JFest of Scotland ^ and correspondence is endless 

 in the pages of the Field, etc. 



There is another phase of the life-history of the bird, however, 

 which I desire to mention. In 1850 to about 1855, Wood-Pigeons 

 assuredly nested in the east of Fife on the ground, and also in tall 

 old whins, as I am assured by men I know, who w^ould not be likely 

 to make any mistake "even then when all w^as young"! I was 

 assured of this in the very first instance repeatedly by my old friend 

 Mr. J. R. Walkinshaw Cook, of St. Andrews. He scouted the idea 

 that they were "more likely Stockdoves." "Maybe," he used to 

 say, "but what I know is, they were Wood-Pigeons." I long felt 

 sceptical, but others gave much similar evidence among friends in 

 St. Andrews. I asked Col. H. W. Feilden whether he had any 

 reminiscences of the Wood-Pigeons nesting under old whins on Tents 

 Muir ; and the following is the reply I received : " He had recollec- 

 tions of the old whins at Tents Muir, but not of the Wood-Pigeons. 

 The whins covered a very considerable space, and were very late "(1). 

 He continues : "If I had disturbed any Pigeons there I would have 

 taken them for Wood-Pigeons, because at that time I was quite 

 ignorant of the Stock-Dove." Mr. Cook always spoke of the Pigeons 

 he used to find there as nesting either on the ground or {i.e. and) 

 quite close to it in the thick whins. And we do know that Ring- 

 Doves nest close to the ground at times — as for instance in the 

 propped up branches which have been laid down for pheasant cover 

 in quite bare plantations — witness an instance of this at Inverurie 

 {Annals Scot. Nat. Hist., Oct. 1904). I personally had reliance upon 

 Mr. Cook's powers of observation as a boy when at Merchiston Castle 

 School (and we knew our birds fairly well even then, though only 

 bird-nesting schoolboys in the sixties). The negative at all events 

 remains to be proved, or that they were Stock-Doves at that 

 early date. Mr. Berry also thinks that he would have heard of any 

 prior existence of Stock-Doves on Tents Muir — i.e. prior to about 

 1880 — had such taken place. 



umba oenas, L. Stock-Dove. 



Formerly appears to have been unknown. Then it was recorded as an 

 "exceedingly rare bird," and finally it became almost suddenly 

 abundant. 



There is no notice taken of it in any of the old Statistical Account 



