Laid in the fork of an old oak-tree;
Coo-goo-roo-o-o,
She says it will do,
And there she’s as happy as a bird can be.”
The nest, however, is not at all insufficient for her needs. You see her sitting brooding over her two white eggs in every possible bird comfort; and whether her mate help her in the building of the nest or not, I cannot say, but he is certainly a very good domesticated husband, and sits upon the eggs alternately with her, so that the hatching, whatever the building may be, is an equally divided labour.
Wordsworth’s Tribute of Praise.
Wordsworth sees in this bird an example of unobtrusive home affection. He says:—
“I heard a stock-dove sing or say
His homely tale this very day:
His voice was buried among the trees,