The RING-DOVE, WOOD PIGEON, or CUSHAT (_Palumbus torquatus_), has a
large and strongly-built body, comparatively long tail, and short feet.
The plumage of the adult bird is of a deep blue on the head, nape, and
throat; the upper part of the back and upper wing-covers are dark greyish
blue, and the lower portion of the back and rump light blue; the breast
is reddish grey, the centre of the under side light greyish blue, and the
lower belly white. The lower part of the throat is decorated on each side
with a glossy white spot, and gleams with metallic lustre; the quills are
slate-grey and the tail-feathers slate-black, marked with an irregular
stripe of lighter shade. The female is recognisable from her mate by the
inferiority of her size, and the young birds by their comparatively pale
plumage. In all, the eye is pale sulphur-yellow, the beak light yellow,
with a red base, and the foot blueish red. The length of the body is
sixteen inches and a half, and the breadth twenty-eight inches and a half;
the wing measures nine and the tail six inches and a half.
[Illustration: THE PARROT PIGEON (_Phalacroteron Abyssinica_).]
The Ring-dove, so called on account of the white feathers that partially
encircle the throat, is the largest of all the wild Pigeons met with in
Europe, the warm and temperate portions of which it frequents in large
numbers, only visiting such northern countries as Sweden and Norway during
the warm seasons. It is particularly fond of fir plantations, and in these
its tender, cooing note may be heard during the entire spring and summer.
In England these Pigeons resort to woods, coppices, and enclosed ground;
and in winter assemble and roost in large parties on the summits of lofty
trees, the ash-tree affording them a very favourite gathering-place. Their
food consists of young leaves and seeds of various kinds, according to
the season of the year. In spring and summer they subsist principally
on the tender leaves of growing plants, and often commit great ravages
in fields of beans and peas. Spring-sown corn is also attacked by them,
both in the grain and the blade; and as soon as young turnips have put
forth their second leaves, they, too, become objects of devastation. As
the season advances they visit the corn-fields, especially those in the
neighbourhood of their native woods, and seek for oily seeds of all kinds
with great eagerness. At the approach of autumn they assemble in small
flocks, and resort to oak and beech trees, where acorns and beech-mast,
swallowed whole, afford them an abundant and nourishing diet. In winter
these small flocks unite, and form larger ones, so large, indeed, that it
would appear probable that their numbers are considerably augmented by
arrivals from colder climates. Both parents assist in making their strange
and carelessly constructed abode, which scarcely deserves to be called a
nest, being nothing more than a mere platform of twigs, so loosely put
together that the brood is distinctly visible through the interstices.
The fork of a branch is usually selected as a resting place for the nest.
The eggs, two in number, are long, rough-shelled, and of a glossy white;
both ends are of equal breadth. The work of incubation is shared by both
parents; the father, in such broods as we have observed, taking his place
upon the nest from about nine or ten in the morning till three or four in
the afternoon. When first hatched the young are fed with pulp from the
crops of the adult birds, and, when older with softened seeds. When strong
enough to go forth into the world, each parent takes care of a fledgling,
and conducts it into the fields to seek for food on its own account.
Towards man these birds exhibit much timidity, and if disturbed whilst
brooding often desert their eggs.
[Illustration: THE RING-DOVE, OR WOOD PIGEON (_Palumbus torquatus_).]
The Ring-dove is easily tamed, but very rarely breeds in captivity; and
even when reared from the nest, if set at liberty, it at once seeks its
native woods, and never voluntarily returns.
In all ages of the world this Dove has been regarded with especial favour,
and, as a sacred symbol, is in some countries regarded with particular
reverence.
The Himalayan Cushat differs from the European by the neck-patch being
clayey buff instead of white, and much contracted in size, also in
the less extent of the white border to the primaries. Mr. Blyth also
notices that whilst in European birds the green gloss prevails above the
neck-patch, and amethystine below, the reverse is the case in the Asiatic
race. This Wood Pigeon has only been found in the North-western Himalayas,
near Simla, and in the Alpine Punjaub. It visits the salt range and the
plains of the Punjaub during winter.