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Birds. 
as they went out in the morning to feed. They are 
still found in considerable quantities in many parts of 
England, but never in Scotland, forming their nests in 
the hollows of trees ; not like the ringdove, on boughs. 
Their murmuring strains, or cooings, in the morning 
and at dusk, are highly pleasing, and throw an agree- 
able melancholy on the solitude of the grove. The poet 
of the Seasons expresses this in the following lines, with 
a beautiful instance of imitative harmony : 
the Stockdove breathes 
A melancholy murmur through the whole. 
Spring. 
Wordsworth also gives a pleasing description of the 
mournful cooing of these birds : 
" I heard a Stockdove sing or say 
His homely tale this very day ; 
His voice was buried among trees, 
Yet to be come at by the breeze ; 
He did not cease ; but cooed and cooed ; 
And somewhat pensively he wooed ; 
He sang of love with quiet blending, 
Slow to begin, and never ending ; 
Of serious faith and inward glee, 
That was the song — the song for me."' 
THE EOCKDOVE. (Columba lima.) 
The shape of this bird, which is the original stock of 
our domestic Pigeons, is well known, and the plumage 
