NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 41 



I am inclined to think that it does ; but, though I cannot positively 

 prove this, I may mention the grounds on which I base my opinion, 

 namely, that I have several times shot Wood Pigeons in the 

 afternoon with nothing in their crops, (and this not in the 

 breeding season, when the birds might have just come off their 

 nests,) and that my brother, W. Baillie Hamilton, R.N., shot 

 twelve AVood Pigeons in one afternoon last month, February, 

 as they came to feed on a newly-sown field, in the crops of 

 which twelve birds not one particle of food was to be found. 



As examples of the voracity of the Wood Pigeon, I may state 

 the result of four postmortem examinations at different times : — 



In the crop of one Wood Pigeon, 144 field peas and 7 large beans. 



In another, 231 beech-nuts. 



In another, 813 grains of barley. 



In another, 874 grains of oats, and 55 of barley. 



Now, presuming that I am right in my supposition that they have 

 three meals yer diem — under favourable circumstances, abund- 

 ance of food, or long days — the amount consumed by one pigeon 

 in a single day is almost incredible. 



The Earl of Home informs me that he has seen great damage 

 done to a field of Swede turnips by Wood Pigeons, and also states 

 that a bird or birds (I forget which, not having a copy of his 

 letter) were killed with turnip in the crop. Of course I do not 

 for a moment dispute the fact stated by his lordship, but I do say 

 that as a rule the Wood Pigeon feeds, not on the bulb, but on the 

 leaf of the turnip. In the winter of 1860, which was one of great 

 severity, the crops of nearly 700 Wood Pigeons were examined by 

 Lord Haddington's keeper and myself, and I never found a single 

 instance of the food consisting of the turnip bulb ; true, I have 

 found small pieces of turnip amongst the mass of leaf, and even 

 larger pieces than one would imagine a pigeon could swallow ; but 

 these latter had all the appearance of having been cut with a 

 knife, and had probably been picked uj) in the neighbourhood of 

 a sheep-feeding trough. During the last four winters, 3526 Wood 

 Pigeons have been killed at Tyninghame. and Mr Ingiis, the head 

 gamekeeper, assures me that he has never known an instance of 

 the crop being filled with the bulb of turnip. Even a casual 

 observer can hardly fail to notice in winter that whenever a 



