[Illustration: FIG. 38.—The Nightingale (_Daulias luscinia_). ] Most of the native thrush-like birds (_Turdus_), _e.g._ the =Blackbird= (_T. merula_), the =Missel Thrush= (_T. viscivorus_), the =Fieldfare= (_T. pilaris_), the =Redwing= (_T. iliacus_), and the =Song Thrush= (_T. musicus_), assist the farmer by devouring noxious insects and snails; but several of them occasionally do damage by poaching on cherries, grapes, currants, etc. Some of them (_e.g._ the Song Thrush and Blackbird) breed in almost all parts of Britain, others come here only in autumn or winter. ORDER: =Gyrantes= (DOVES). Body strongly built, somewhat thick-set. Wings long and pointed. Beak weak, with a cere at its base; nostrils covered by gristly scales. Toes: three forwardly and one backwardly directed, free, _i.e._ without a web (as in poultry). The young are at first blind and naked. They are at first fed with a cheesy secretion of the glands of the crop; later, with grain softened in the crop. Doves always live in pairs. Nests careless, flat, of loosely arranged twigs; situated on tree-branches, rocks, and large buildings. Doves breed twice or thrice a year, laying two longish, shining white eggs. Native British forms:— [Illustration: FIG. 39.—The Wood Pigeon (_Columba palumbus_). ] 1. =Wood Pigeon= (_Columba palumbus_, Fig. 39), from April to September scattered about in the woods, but after the breeding season wander about in flocks, and in winter travel further south, although many remain. It nests on horizontal branches, and feeds on seeds of fir and pine, acorns, beechnuts, also grain, peas, vetches, rape-seed,—but seeds of many weeds as well (_e.g._ those of charlock, vetchling, spurry, cleavers). When the earth is covered with snow it often eats cabbage and the leaves of winter rape, but is also of some service. 2. The =Turtle Dove= (_C. turtur_) occurs on the edges of woods, especially those consisting of coniferous trees. Nests in the trees. For _food_, _use_, and _harm_, cp. the preceding species. Steals buckwheat grains from the fields. 3. The =Rock Pigeon= (_C. livia_) is the original stock of our races of domestic pigeons. It nests, as a resident, in the Mediterranean countries; as a migrant, on the rocky parts of the coasts of Great Britain and the Orkneys, Shetlands, and Faroe Islands. ORDER: =Rasores= (POULTRY).