reach of the river with a lofty rock rising from its
centre.

DOVE (Dutch _duyve_, Dan. _due_, Ice. _dufa_, Ger. _Taube_), a name most
commonly applied by ornithologists to the smaller members of the group
of birds usually called pigeons (_Columbae_); but no sharp distinction
can be drawn between pigeons and doves, and in general literature the
two words are used almost indifferently, while no one species can be
pointed out to which the word dove, taken alone, seems to be absolutely
proper. The largest of the group to which the name is applicable is
perhaps the ring-dove, or wood-pigeon, also called in many parts of
Britain cushat and queest (_Columba palumbus_, Linn.), a very common
bird throughout the British Islands and most parts of Europe. It
associates in winter in large flocks, the numbers of which (owing partly
to the destruction of predaceous animals, but still more to the modern
system of agriculture, and the growth of plantations in many districts
that were before treeless) have increased enormously. In former days,
when the breadth of land in Britain under green crops was comparatively
small, these birds found little food in the dead season, and this
scarcity was a natural check on their superabundance. But since the
extended cultivation of turnips and plants of similar use the case is
altered, and perhaps at no time of the year has provender become more
plentiful than in winter. The ring-dove may be easily distinguished from
other European species by its larger size, and especially by the white
spot on either side of its neck, forming a nearly continuous "ring,"
whence the bird takes its name, and the large white patches in its
wings, which are very conspicuous in flight. It breeds several times in
the year, making for its nest a slight platform of sticks on the
horizontal bough of a tree, and laying therein two eggs--which, as in
all the _Columbae_, are white. It is semi-domestic in the London parks.

PLATE I. (After the coloured drawings by Mme. Knip (Pauline de
Courcelles), painter to the Empress Marie Louise, in _Les Pigeons_.
Text by C. J. Themminck, Paris, 1811.)

[Illustration: ROCK DOVE OR BLUE ROCK PIGEON, _Columba livia_.]

[Illustration: STOCK DOVE, _Columba oenas_.]

[Illustration: AMERICAN WILD CARRIER PIGEON, _Ectopistes migratorius_.]

[Illustration: RING DOVE OR WOOD PIGEON, _Columba palumbus_.]

PLATE II. By permission of the proprietors of the _Racing Pigeon_.

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