^32 HANDBOOK OF BRITISH INLAND BIRDS 
the neck, which is not, as a matter of fact, a ring 
at all, but two round white patches, one on each 
side. In immature birds these white neck-patches, 
however, do not appear till the beginning of the 
second spring. The exceeding wariness of the wild 
Wood Pigeon is as well known as its strong, swift 
flight, and the loud clapping of its wings above its 
back which it makes on taking flight out of a tree. 
Yet it shows so much intelligence in its caution that 
when it settles in the London parks and squares, 
where it is petted instead of persecuted, it becomes 
one of the tamest of all birds, and will barely move 
out of the way of the passer-by. Its loose, flimsy 
platform of sticks, scantily cushioned with roots or 
finer twigs, is built almost anywhere in trees, shrubs, 
or good-sized bushes, and it breeds from March to 
September, though May and June are the most 
usual months. It lays two eggs, of a pure glossy 
white. The white eggs of the Wood Pigeon and 
the Turtle Dove are a very remarkable exception 
to the great general protective rule that only those 
eggs which are laid in holes can affbrd to be white, 
and therefore very easily noticeable, while eggs laid 
in open nests in trees and bushes must have some 
sort of spots, blotches, or other deeper colour to 
make them at least moderately inconspicuous to 
the eye of egg-destroying creatures in their natural 
surroundings. It is a striking thing that the Stock 
