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THE RING DOVE, 
You see the nest is made of bits of twig laid flat, 
and some hay is put on the top of them : on this 
hay the Dove lays two eggs at a time. The Ring 
Dove is a bold bird when it has a nest ; it will not 
let any kind of hawk, but one, come near it at that 
time, and that one does it no harm : but when it 
has no nest, it is a very shy bird, and will fly away 
as soon as it sees any one. It eats corn and peas, 
and will peck up any kind of seed that it can find. 
It does a good deal of harm on a farm, as it will 
eat the corn that has been sown, and it does not 
eat any kind of grub to make up for the loss. The 
Ring Dove can fly a very long way at a time ; it 
has a soft kind of bill, and a red rim to its eyes, 
and can see very far off*. It has a ring at the back 
of its neck of a dark grey hue, and has two bars 
of dark grey on each wing. It has its name from 
the ring on its neck. It is very fond of its mate, 
or wife, and will feed her as she sits on her nest. 
This bird will stay with us in the cold part of the 
year. 
