The Stocic*dovr. BIRDS. The Rock-dove. 389 
distinctly exhibits the soft and somewhat inflated skin 
described as characteristic of the Pigeons in general ; 
the nostrils are in the form of longitudinal slits near 
the front of tins basal inflation ; and the tarsi and toes 
are of moderate length. The first species to which we 
shall refer is — ■ 
THE STOCK-DOVE {Colurnha Plate 17, fig. 
61. This is rather a rare and local British species, 
found only in the southern and midland counties of 
England. In the south of Europe it is abundant, but 
visits the central and northern parts of the continent 
only in the summer, and many individuals appear to 
migrate in the autumn into Africa even from Italy and 
the islands of the Mediterranean. It inhabits woods 
and breeds in the holes of trees, especially in those 
which occur so commoidy in the heads of pollard-oaks 
and willows. In those districts, however, in which 
trees are scarce, such as some parts of Norfolk and 
Sufiblk, the Stock-dove makes its nest in the rabbit 
burrows, or in the midst of a thick furze bush. The 
eggs are two in number and pure white. The voice of 
the Stock-dove is a grunting or rumbling note, very 
different from the musical and plaintive coo which we 
are accustomed to associate with the idea of a dove, and 
far from agreeable. Its food consists of young leaves, 
berries, and seeds of various kinds, according to the 
season ; and during the winter it associates in flocks 
with the Ring-doves, which it resembles in its mode 
of life. The length of the Stock-dove is between thir- 
teen and fourteen inches. 
THE RIHG-DOVE {Colurnha Pahimhus), also called 
the Cushat and the Wood-pigeon, is a larger species 
than the preceding, some specimens measuring seven- 
teen inches in length. It is of a bluish-gray colour, 
with the wing-primaries lead-gray, narrowly margined 
externally with white, and with a portion of the wing- 
coverts white ; the neck and breast are purple-red, and 
the feathers of the sides of the neck are largely tipped 
with white, in such a manner as to represent portions 
of several white rings encircling the neck ; the tail- 
feathers exhibit three shades of gray, the palest in 
the middle, with the exception of the two central 
ones, which are bluish-gray, with the tips lead colour. 
The irides are yellow, the bill reddish-orange, and 
the feet red. 
Like the preceding species, this, which is the largest 
Euroi)ean pigeon, inhabits the woods both of this coun- 
try and of the continent of Europe ; it is most abundant 
in the south, and is only a summer visitor to the most 
northern countries, such as Norway and Sweden. It 
is particularly fond of thick plantations of firs, in which 
it delights to build, and here its tender cooing notes 
may be heard Uiroughout the spring and summer. 
The nest is built upon the branches of trees, and is 
composed of a few sticks laid across one another. 
The eggs are two in number and white. 
THE ROCK-DOVE {Colurnha Iwia), the parent stock 
of our domestic pigeons, is a very widely distributed 
species, occurring, apparently in a wild state, in all 
parts of the Old World. The wild birds are rather 
less than twelve inches in length, and are of a bluish- 
gray colour, with the lower parts of the back pure 
white, two black bands across the wings, and the throat 
exhibiting beautiful glossy purple and green tints ; the 
lower surface is pearl-gray, as are also the tail-feathers, 
except at the tips, where they are lead colour. Our 
dove-cote pigeons approach very closely in all these 
characters to the original wild stock ; but the varieties 
which have been produced in what are called the/nnci/ 
breeds of pigeons are almost innumerable, and many of 
them differ so much from each other, and from the 
common parents of the whole, that it would seem at 
first sight almost impossible that they should all spring 
from the same species. Almost every part of the birds 
takes part in these remarkable changes; the bill and 
feet, the character of the plumage, are changed to a 
very considerable extent ; the colour varies from pure 
white to deep black, and exhibits almost every possi- 
ble mixture of the intervening tints, and in one variety 
even the number of feathers in the tail is greatly 
increased. The Tumblers, so called from their curi- 
ous habit of turning over backwards in the air, present 
the closest resemblance in form to the common pigeon, 
but in them the head, bill, and feet are small ; these 
characters occur also in several other breeds, of which 
we may mention the Jacobins, which have the feathers 
of the sides of the head and neck curled, so as to form 
a sort of ruff; and the Fantails, in which we find the 
tail-feathers increased to thirty-six, or tliree times their 
natural number, forming a broad arched tail. The 
Carriers, which are large birds, with the bill elongated 
and the feet large, are distinguished by the great 
development of the naked skin at the base of the bill, 
which forms a large warty wattle. This character is 
also presented, although to a less extent, by the nearly- 
allied breeds called Horsemen and Dragoons. These 
latter birds, but e.specially the Carriers, are remarkable 
for the degree in which they possess the power, com- 
mon indeed to all the pigeons, but in a less degree, of 
finding their way home from long distances — a faculty 
which has caused them to be employed from time 
immemorial in the rapid and secret conveyance ot 
intelligence. 
THE PASSENGER PIGEON {Ectopistes inigratorius), 
which is an inhabitant of the United States, is 
remarkable on account of the prodigious numbers in 
which it associates together, and the extraordinary 
migrations performed by these vast flocks. These 
migrations appear to be undertaken in search of food, 
especially beech mast, of which these pigeons are very 
fond ; and when they have consumed the whole supply 
of this in any given spot in the forest, they betake 
themselves to some other district, perhaps at a distance 
of many miles, but still residing in the place where 
they first took up their abode, to which they regularly 
return every evening after their foraging expeditions. 
Wilson mentions one of these roosting-places in Ken- 
tucky, which was said to extend through the woods for a 
distance of forty miles, with a breadth of several miles. 
In these spots the pigeons also breed ; they produce 
only one young one at a time, but breed several times 
in the year, and as the nests are very numerous and 
close together, they are plundered to a vast extent of 
their nearly full-grown inmates by the inhabitants of 
the country for many miles round the breeding-place. 
The pigeons are also sliot and knocked down in vast 
j 
