298 rROCEEDINGS OF THE 



familiar enough to most collectors, and is a native of both 

 counties. The niglitjar is, perhaps, oftener recognised in its 

 moorland quarters, from which it descends at the gloaming to the 

 lower grounds in quest of moths and beetles, which we have seen 

 it dexterously snapping from the surface of a grass field. 



E A SORES. COLUMBIDm. 



The Eing Dove, or Wood Pigeon {Cohmba palumbus). 



Of late years this bird has become very numerous, and is now 

 looked upon as a feathered nuisance throughout the agricultural 

 counties of Scotland. In Ayrshire it has been for some years 

 past a destructive farm pest, devouring the ripening wheat and 

 other cereals in great quantities. In Wigtownshire, where turnips 

 are cultivated to a large extent, it is equally mischievous, by 

 eating up the tender blades, and destroying the growth of the 

 bulb. It even picks up the sprouting seed of the turnip shortly 

 after it has been sown; and as it feeds voraciously from early 

 dawn to sunset, its depredations are not easily checked. Some 

 years ago Mr Anderson found it a good plan to visit the turnip 

 drills about sunrise, when the pigeons were found even at that 

 hour dozing half asleep, after an early breakfast, and, by taking 

 them in a line, give tliem a good charge of No. 6 at fifteen yards. 

 The ravages committed by wood pigeons in East Lothian have 

 been met by a most extraordinary but unavailing slaughter of the 

 birds on the part of the farmers of that district. This district is 

 fully considered in the " Birds of the West of Scotland." 



The Kock Dove {Columha livia). 



Plentiful alons; the coast between Ballantrae and the entrance 

 to Loch Ptyan, and also along the range of cliffs forming the Mull 

 of Galloway. In these localities there is the usual admixture of 

 the domestic breed, judging from the number of parti-coloured 

 specimens noticeable in the flocks frequenting tlie line of caves 

 on both Ayrshire and Galloway coasts. Last year we found a 

 single pair breeding in the roof of a cave under the ruins of 

 Turnberry Castle. A number of pairs frequent the caverns of 

 Ailsa Craig. 



Like the wood pigeon, this bird is occasionally destructive on 

 farms in the vicinity of its haunts. 



