422 
KING DOVE. 
Wale. Syn. 2. t. 187 Ring Dove, Mont. Orn. Diet. — Bewick’s Br. Birds, 1. t. 
p. 270. — Selby, pi. 56. fig. 1. p. 288. 
Provincial, — Quest. Wood Pig-eon. Cushat. Cusha-Doo.* 
This species weig-hs about twenty ounces ; leng-th eig-hteen inches. 
The bill yellowish ; irides light yellow ; the head, coverts of the wings, 
and scapulars, are of a deep bluish ash colour ; the neck and breast 
vinaceous, beautifully glossed with green and copper colour, changeable 
in different lights; on each side the neck is a large patch of glossy 
white, which almost joins behind ; the back and tail ash-colour, the 
latter black at the end ; vent and thighs white, tinged with ash-colour ; 
the bastard wing almost black, behind which a few of the coverts are 
white, forming a line down to the greater quills, which are dusky, edged 
with white ; the legs are feathered much below the knee, which, with 
the feet, are of a purplish-red. There is little or no distinction in the 
plumage of the sexes ; but the female is not quite so large. 
This bird is indigenous to this island ; and it is doubtful whether 
it migrates farther than from the northern to the southern parts. 
In winter they assemble in large flocks, and constantly resort to 
woods to roost in the highest trees, especially those of the ash. The 
great numbers that are seen together at this season, has given rise to 
an opinion that many come to us from the more northern parts of the 
world ; but if we consider how dispersed all birds are in the breeding 
season, it is easy to imagine, the number appears greater when locally 
assembled. 
Early in the spring it begins to pair, at which time the male is seen 
to fly in a singular manner, alternately rising and falling in the air. It 
forms a nest of a few small sticks, loosely put together, through which 
the eggs may frequently been seen; these are two in number, white, 
and exactly oval, larger than those of the common pigeon. Like that 
species, both sexes assist in making their nest : and the male some- 
times relieves the female in sitting. The nest is sometimes placed 
among brush-wood, and in hedges, or large hawthorn-bushes ; but more 
frequently in the fork of a tree, or against the body, when surrounded 
with ivy, and particularly in fir-trees. 
* The bird does not always confine itself to woods, for I knew a pair 
breed, for several years, at the edge of a corn-field, in a large solitary 
hawthorn overhanging the river Ayr, at Sorn, in Ayrshire, although 
there was a wood of considerable extent on the opposite bank. This, 
however, must be considered rather an exception to the general rule ; 
for it is most generally found in large woods. In Darent Wood, in 
Kent, I have observed half a dozen of wood-pigeon’s nests, all within 
