BIKDS. 
277 
THE STOCKDOVE, OR WILD PIGEON. 
(Columba anas.) 
The Stockdove, reculse, with her mate, 
Conceals her fond bliss in the grove, 
And murmuring seems to repeat, 
That May is the mother of love. CUNNINGHAM. 
THIS bird is called the Stockdove, because it builds in the 
stocks of trees, which have been headed down and are be- 
come thick and bristly ; and not, as some have supposed, 
because it is the stock, or original, from which all the tame 
pigeons have sprung. Sometimes these pigeons lay their 
eggs in deserted rabbit-warrens, on the sod, without mak- 
ing any nest. 
The colour of the Stockdove is generally of a deep slate 
or lead tint, with rings of black about the feathers. Multi- 
tudes of these pigeons visit this country in the winter, from 
their more northerly summer retreats. They appear about 
November, and again retire (except a few that breed with 
us) in the spring. While the beech woods were suffered 
to cover large tracts of ground, these birds used to haunt 
