432 



British Caere Birds. 



top ; at other times, but rarely, where the trees are clad thickly 

 with ivy, they may be discovered not many feet from the 

 ground. The nest is large and flat, composed of a few 

 slender sticks loosely interwoven together on the fork of a 

 branch, and so open that the eggs and young, in many cases, 

 are plainly discernible from beneath ; the nests are so 

 shallow that, during a high wind, the eggs, and even the 

 young, are blown out of them. The hen lays two white eggs 

 similar to those of the domestic pigeon, and incubates about 

 seventeen days ; she has two broods in the year, and, under 

 exceptional circumstances, three. The male assists in incuba- 

 tion and rearing the young. The latter when first hatched 

 resemble the young of the House Dove, being thinly covered 

 with down ; they remain blind about eight days. In their 

 nest feathers they are duller and darker in colour than their 

 parents, being of a dingy brown. The white crescent, and 

 green and purple reflection on the neck, are only obtained 

 after moulting. 



Methods op Captuee. — In winter time these birds may be 

 taken by the use of the clap net. Select a piece of ground 

 verging on a wood where they frequent, scatter grain and 

 hemp seed over it for a week or two, till the birds lose their 

 suspicions, and look on it as a feeding ground, and then set the 

 net ; if a tame bird can be tethered inside to an iron pin as a 

 decoy the prospect of a good take will be greatly increased. 

 Great caution and circumspection are needed, for Ring-doves 

 are very wary. 



Food and Teeatment. — The food of the Ring-dove is 

 various. In summer and autumn it eats corn and grain of 

 most kinds, peas, tares, and vetches, several kinds of seeds, 

 and bilberries. In winter it resorts to oak and beech woods, 

 and feeds on acorns and beech mast; it likewise eats turnip 

 tops and clover, and in the spring devours the young blades 

 of corn and the tender shoots of the turnips. In, confine- 

 ment, the Ring-dove should be fed on wheat, barley, tares, 

 millet, and hemp seed. 



Reaeing the Young. — The most satisfactory method is to 

 obtain one or two sittings of eggs, and place them under 

 domestic pigeons to be hatched and reared. If brought up 

 by hand, take at fourteen or sixteen days, and rear on 

 bread, boiled in milk, and made into a soft paste with 



