WOOD PIGEON.
Y8GUTHAN, OF THE AMOTBHT BB1T18H.
RING DOVE. CUSHAT. Qt'EEST.
Columba ptilumhusy PENNANT. MONTAGU.
Cdumba—A Pigeon. Palumhus—A Wood Pigeon.
T i n s bird is a universal favourite, an emblem, as it is alwavs
considered, of peace, innocence, and conjugal fidelity. 'It was a Dove,
ever since sacred to peace,'says Booth, 'that brought the olive branch
to the ark of Noah, for which she has her place among constellations;
and the Christian world still personate the H o t . y S p i k i t under the
mystic emblem of a Dove.1
I t is found in Europe as far north as the southern parts of Russia,
and in summer in Denmark and Sweden; likewise southwards to t he
latitude of Madeira, and in the northern part of the African continent;
as also in Asia, in Siberia.
The King Dove occurs throughout the whole of England and
Scotland, in the north as far as Tongue in Sutherlandshire, and has
been seen several times in the Orkneys. Also in Ireland, at Kildare,
etc. So, too, in Guernsey and Sark. It has been killed in San day—
one was shot in Orphir in the autumn of 1844, another at Pabdalc
by Mr. Duguid, and a third at the same place by Mr. Kanken, the
15th. of October, 1846. In Yorkshire, Mr. Allis says that this bird is
becoming rare near I lalifax, no doubt as one of the manufacturing
towns.
It is with us a stationary inhabitant, but in the winter many are
said to come over from the continent, and a departure again is
accordingly supposed to take place in the spring. Of the enormous
flocks which congregate in the winter, some do not separate till late in