. A history of British birds . lead-grey spot on the outer web, and asimilar spot on some of the wing-coverts above, without,however, forming a regular band in any position of the wing ;rump and upper tail-coverts light bluish-grey; tail of twelvefeathers: the basal two-thirds bluish-grey, inclining to whiteon the outer web of the exterior ones, followed by a band oflighter grey : the ends lead-grey ; chin bluish-grey ; sides ofthe neck glossy green, with purple reflections ; breast vinous ;belly, flanks, vent, under wing, and under tail-coverts palebluish-grey; tarsi and feet red. The whole l
. A history of British birds . lead-grey spot on the outer web, and asimilar spot on some of the wing-coverts above, without,however, forming a regular band in any position of the wing ;rump and upper tail-coverts light bluish-grey; tail of twelvefeathers: the basal two-thirds bluish-grey, inclining to whiteon the outer web of the exterior ones, followed by a band oflighter grey : the ends lead-grey ; chin bluish-grey ; sides ofthe neck glossy green, with purple reflections ; breast vinous ;belly, flanks, vent, under wing, and under tail-coverts palebluish-grey; tarsi and feet red. The whole length of themale is about thirteen and a half inches. From the carpaljoint to the end of wing nearly nine inches ; the second quill-feather the longest, and the third nearly equal to it. Thefemale is somewhat smaller, and her colours are less brilliant. Young birds before their first moult have no shiningmetallic feathers in the neck, nor are the spots on the tertialsand wing-coverts apparent. ROCK DOVE. COLUMBM. 13 CoLUMBA LiviA, Gmelin.*THE ROCK DOVE. Columha livia. The Rock Dove, as its name implies, is a species which,in its natural and wild state, inhabits rocks whose cavitiesafford it shelter during the greater part of the year. Suchlocalities are in these islands principally confined to the sea-coast, and consequently the records of the Rock Dove beingfound breeding inland are, in many cases, open to thesuspicion that either the Stock Dove has been mistaken forit, or that the individuals in question are really domesticbirds which have abandoned the dovecote. It has alreadybeen pointed out that even on the sea-coast it is frequently * Columba livia, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 769 (1788), ex Brisson. There issome uncertainty about Gmelins description, but the name has been universallyadopted for this species. 14 COLUMBID^. the Stock Dove which has been proved to inhabit thechffs, as in Dorsetshire, the Isle of Wight, and Yorkshire;and it seems to the Editor that
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsaun, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds
