316 
THE RIXG-DOVEc 
summer months only. They are all beautiful birds, with an iri- 
descent play of colours about the neck and head ; but on the whole 
are rather characterised by harmony and sobriety of tint, than by 
gorgeous colouring. Gentle and retiring in their manners, with a 
soft note, and a look that seems half timid and half confiding, they 
have been, by common consent, the emblems of gentleness and 
devoted affection, being constantly alluded to as such in the works of 
the old poets, from whom we might cull many beautiftd passages in 
proof of this, had we space for them. But the Dove, we must remem- 
ber, has been considered to typify that which is far holier and higher 
than earthly love. In sacred symbolism the Holy Spirit is always ' 
represented under the form of a Dove descending from heaven. This 
symbol was used in the earliest ages of the church, and we frequently 
hear of gold and silver doves being suspended above the altar, as types 
and emblems of the Holy Spirit. 
Of our native Doves that called the Eing Dove, Wood Pigeon, or 
Cushat, is the largest, generally measuring about seventeen inches and 
a half; it is, perhaps, not so remarkable for elegance of form, and 
beauty of colouring, as the other native species, although it is by no 
means deficient in these claims to admiration. It is a strong, robust 
bird, with a large full body, short neck, small head, short strong feet 
and rather long wings and tail ; the upper parts of its plumage are 
greyish blue, the shoulders and wings having a brownish tinge ; the 
upper part and sides of the neck are green and purplish, and chang- 
ing according to the light it is viewed in. 
Like to the changing colours that we see 
About the dove's neck, for variety, 
says the old pastoral poet William Brown, alluding to the iridescent 
appearance of the necks of most birds of this family. There are two 
cream-coloured patches also on the neck, the fore part of which, and 
the breast, are light and dark purple ; the do-wiiy part of the plumage 
is greyish white ; across the middle of each wing there is a white 
mark, formed by the projecting edges of the wing coverts, which are 
of that colour. 
In all the wooded districts of England and Scotland we find this 
bird, which generally avoids bare and uncultivated regions ; as it does 
not, like some of its family, repose or nestle among rocks, but in 
trees, especially beech, ash and pine, or in hedgerows, avenues and 
plantations, from vv^hence it issues at sunrise in search of food, which 
consists of seeds of the cultivated cereal grasses, such as wheat, 
barley, oats, as well as of leguminous plants, such as beans and peas, 
and of the field mustard and charlock. Indeed, scarcely any seeds 
or grain, small or large, come amiss to this bird, which will even 
swallow whole beech nuts and acorns ; its bill not being sutficiently 
strong to break them. 
Although not so decidedly gregarious as the Rock Dove, yet these 
birds are sometimes seen in large fiocks in the winter, when, however, 
it is generally supposed that the greater part of them have passed 
