RING-DOVE. 171 



Thro' lofty groves the Cushat roves, 

 The path of man to shun it. 



Burns. 



The Ring-Dove, Cushat- Dove, or Wood-Pigeon, is very frequent 

 in Herefordshire, where it is universally called a " Quist." The name 

 Ring-Dove is a little misleading and ambiguous. It only appears 

 in books ; and in them, its use is by no means clear or consistent. 



The Ring-Dove of every-day life, means the gentle pet of so 

 many households, the Barbary Dove, a light fawn-coloured bird 

 with a black ring round its neck ; whereas the Ring-Dove of 

 ornithology, is the Quist, or Wood-Pigeon, with a band of white 

 feathers on the side of the neck. Its numbers in this county have 

 considerably increased of late years, partly from the destruction of 

 its natural enemies, the Hawks, by the gamekeepers ; but chiefly, 

 perhaps, from the greater abundance of food produced for it, by the 

 growth of turnips and the other green crops it greatly affects. 



There is the same difference of habits among Quists, as there 

 is among Starlings. Many are resident throughout the year, and 

 become comparatively tame. They build in gardens, and often in 

 the same trees year after year. They feed without fear or shyness, 

 and drink out of ponds, or even bowls, close to houses. Others, 

 on the contrary, are wild and migratory ; they come over in large 

 flocks in autumn and winter, either from foreign countries, or from 

 the northern parts of our own island. They cross the North Sea 

 from the Continent by an east and west flight, until in some 

 districts they become so numerous, and do so much damage to 

 the crops, that it becomes a great object to destroy them. This,, 

 however, is not a very easy matter, for the Wood-Pigeon is a very 

 wary, watchful bird, and when feeding in flocks in the turnip-fields, 

 is extremely difficult to approach. On the very first appearance of 

 danger, their watchman gives the signal, and they are off instan- 

 taneously in a body. The only way to succeed well, is to lie in wait 

 for them in the dusk of the evening, beneath the trees on which 

 they come to roost in large flocks, during the autumn and winter. On 

 a rough, windy evening many may be shot in this way; and they are 



