60 
WOOD PIGEON OB BING DOVE. 
Columba jntumbus Linnaeus. 
PLATE I. 
Palambus torquatus, Willougk. Ray . — Columba palumbus, 
Linn . — Colombe ramler, Terrnn . — Wood Pigeon, Bing 
Pigeon, Bing Dove, of British authors Quest or Cushat, 
ProvinciaUy. 
The Wood Pigeon or Ring Dove is the most 
common as well as the most generally distributed 
of our native pigeons, extending over the three 
kingdoms ; but becoming more sparingly, distri- 
buted to the northward, where the low character 
of the woods is unfriendly to its presence. In 
the south and middle of Scotland, and in all the 
wooded districts of England and Ireland, it is 
abundant; it is even blamed, and with some 
reason, for its depredations on the crops of the 
farmer, particularly turnips, to which the ap- 
pearance of snow or frost invariably drives them. 
In the garden, in spring time also, they occasion- 
ally do considerable damage, breaking over and 
eating the young cabbage plants and other greens, 
and cropping the peas even when five or six inches 
above the ground. Nevertheless, they are a fa- 
vourite bird, and are not frequently molested or 
