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THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



in defence of whom who would care to say a word ? Yet 

 black as his conduct is, even the Woodpigeon is still not 

 quite as black as he is painted. 



In the year 1894 to 1895, Sir John Gilmour of Montrave, 

 an ornithologist, and an agriculturist on a very large scale as 

 well, undertook his very careful enquiry into the relation of 

 certain birds to the agricultural interest as shown by their 

 diet, the results of which were published in the Transactions 

 of the Highland and Agricultural Society for Scotland in 1896. 

 On p. 1 1 of the reprint of this paper, which is no doubt in 

 the hands of all those who are interested in this very 

 important question, there is a detailed calendar of pigeon 

 food, which is itself the basis of the schedule of Total Injuries 

 and Benefits, on p. 7 of the reprint. The indictment is as 

 follows : 



and here is the verdict. " There is no uncertainty, no 

 dubiety about the meaning here; the figures as given by 

 himself condemn, and we cannot but convict. The root 

 crops stand entirely against him ; amongst the leaves, the 

 clovers accuse him most strongly ; and in the case of cereal 

 grains, no extenuation whatever for his outrage is offered. 

 Though grain be left entirely out of court, the pigeon stands 

 utterly condemned by the heavy black score standing against 

 him for root-crop and clover-leaf destruction." 



Now the first point that strikes a peruser is that all crop 

 material is grouped together as stolen from the food supply 

 of the country ; but a great deal of this material was 

 certainly valueless waste, so far as the country or the farmer 

 is concerned. In 1894, the harvest was moderately early. 



