170 ROCK DOVE. 
six months every year, and fill their crops once a day, half 
of them with barley, and the other half with oats, the number 
of seeds picked up by them, would be two hundred and 
twenty-nine million five hundred thousand grains of barley, 
and four hundred and fifty million grains of oats—a quantity 
which would gladden many poor families in a season of 
scarcity. I am unable to estimate the number of bushels, 
and must leave that task to the curious. What is the 
number of Pigeons, wild and tame, in Britain; and how much 
grain do they pick up from the fields and corn yards? It 
is probable that were the seeds of the cereal plants, which 
all the granivorous birds in the country devour annually, 
accurately known, it would prove much higher than would 
be imagined; yet by far the greater part of it would be of 
no use to man, were all the birds destroyed, it being irre- 
coverably dispersed over the fields.’ Every morning they fly 
off from their fastnesses, to levy contributions on the nearest 
cultivated country, resorting to regular feeding places while: 
food is to be found in plenty; but when the contrary is the 
case, they are compelled to seek for it in all directions. 
They drink often, and, as do the other Pigeons, by a 
continued draught. The young ones are fed with food pre- 
viously swallowed by the parents, and they receive it with 2 
fluttering of the wings and a low plaining note of hunger. 
The Rock Pigeon does not perch in trees, but in lieu 
thereof takes its stand on some high spot, at the same time 
secure and outlooking. 
The note is a ‘coo-roo-coo’ quickly repeated, the last ‘coo” 
prolonged. | 
They build in companies, many often in the same cavern. 
The nest is composed of sticks and dry stalks, and blades 
of grass and other plants, laid together without much care. 
The bed is fresh made, without much trouble for a new 
brood as soon as the former has been sent at large. The 
first eggs are laid about or towards the middle of April, and 
the latest, the latter end of August; the young are seen 
about the end of September. 
The eggs are white, and two in number; while the hen is 
sitting, the cock bird feeds her, and even at other times she 
will often take a morsel from his mouth: at night he remains 
close to the nest. The young birds are fledged in about three 
weeks, and after a few days education by their parents, go 
their ways ‘o wrovide for themselves. | 
