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round, and meet at some well-known rendezvous, where the male often commences 
his delightful note as soon as he has settled. 
This note, if I remember rightly, invariably consists of three strains, and a 
short note at the end. The whole ditty may be written thus : coo coo ; coo coo 
coo; coo cod coo , coo coo ; cod. The stress is laid on the second syllable of 
each strain, which consists, musically speaking, of but one note. Delightful as 
the Ring Pigeon’s love-song sounds at a distance, it is astonishing how rough and 
hoarse it becomes on a nearer approach. The Ring Pigeon begins to coo about 
the middle, or towards the end of February, when the flight of the male is diversi- 
fled in a most curious manner. This mode of flight ceases as soon as the nest is 
commenced, or perhaps somewhat before. 
The Ring Pigeon begins to build in March, and forms its nest of sticks and 
twigs, usually selecting the oldest and most brittle for the purpose. The sticks in 
the interior of the structure are somewhat smaller than those on the exterior. The 
shape of the nest is that of a platform, placed in the fork of a branch ; and though 
sometimes sufficiently substantial, at other times is so slightly constructed as to 
allow a practised eye to detect the eggs through the interstices. The nest is ge¬ 
nerally found near the tops of tall trees, particularly the fir, but I have observed 
it in nearly all the other common trees and shrubs which grow in sequestered 
woods. From its naturally shy habits, the Ring Pigeon is rarely known to build 
near houses; but in places where the feathered tribes are not disturbed, I have 
met with instances of its breeding in the immediate neighbourhood of the abodes 
of men. Mr. Waterton pointed out a nest in an elm tree, within a few yards of 
Walton Flail, wherein both birds were sitting: so exceedingly tame will almost 
any bird become when unmolested. Last year a pair of Ring Pigeons built their 
nest in a laurel bush in the gardens at Foston Hall, Derbyshire, and hatched their 
young, though, for some reason I cannot explain, they deserted their progeny 
when about ten days old. This bird rears two or three broods in the season. 
The eggs are never more than two,* one being laid two or three days after 
the other ; which causes a corresponding difference in their times of hatching. 
The eggs are oval, but nearly elliptical, of a pure white, and remarkably smooth. 
The first egg is hatched in sixteen days, the other in nineteen, and hence the rea¬ 
son of one of the young birds being invariably so much larger than the other. 
They are at first scantily provided with yellow down, but the feathers of the wings 
soon begin to shoot forth. In about three weeks they are ready to fly; and in 
Derbyshire the peasants are accustomed, about this period, to tie them to the nest 
by one leg, in order to allow the parents to feed them until they have become 
* The domestic Pigeon (which is descended from the Rock Pigeon, C. lima) also lays 
only two eggs; but almost every extensive breeder of Pigeons must be aware that they 
will occasionally lay three. Instances of this have fallen under my own notice. 
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