NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 45 



damage done by the Wood Pigeon is not compensated by the good 

 that it does in the destruction of noxious weeds. My verdict is 

 against the bird, but let it be distinctly understood that I find 

 that verdict on such evidence as is before me. And let it also be 

 remembered that my observations have been made principally 

 during the times of the year — harvest and seed-time — when grain 

 was most easily procurable, whereas I know next to nothing of 

 the food of the Wood Pigeon during the months of May, June, 

 and July, when grain would be almost impossible to obtain, and 

 when the birds must feed on the leaves, buds, roots, and seeds of 

 many wild plants. 



To prevent any doubt as to the seeds, etc., which I have 

 named with the kind assistance of Professor Balfour, I enclose 

 in separate boxes specimens of many of them as taken from the 

 Pigeon's crop. Together with the boxes of seeds of wild plants 

 (eleven in number), I have forwarded three boxes illustrative of 

 the extraordinary quantity eaten by a Wood Pigeon. They are 

 marked Nos. 1, 2, and 3, and each is as taken from the bird's crop. 



I also send a box containing small fresh-water shells, and 

 portions of shells, and a small bone, taken from two Wood 

 Pigeons this month. I often find pieces of lime-stone, lime, and 

 old mortar in their crops, and these shells have evidently not been 

 picked up for the nutriment they contained, as they were all dead, 

 colourless, and empty. I shall hope to supplement these remarks, 

 if you consider them worthy of acceptance, by others at a future 

 time, shewing the principal diet of the Wood Pigeon in the 

 summer months. 



At the close of the paper. Professor Alexander Dickson spoke 

 of the importance of such contributions, both from a scientific and 

 an economic point of view, as they enabled Naturalists to judge 

 of the propriety of encouraging or destroying certain animals, just 

 as they were found to be beneficial or the reverse. He then 

 proposed that the thanks of the Society be transmitted to Lord 

 Binning for his very interesting communication, which was 

 cordially agreed to. 



lY. — Dredging Notes from the Bay of Rothesay. 

 By John Grieve, M.A., M.D. 



During the months of August and September, in 1868 and 

 1869, I dredged a little in the Bay of Eothesay, and ofi* its 



