OBSEKVATIONS. 



191 



Desiructiveness of the Wood Pigeon 

 {Columha jjaZwm&ws.) — The Wood 

 Pigeon is a very great nuisance in 

 this neighbourhood, on account of 

 the havoc it makes on laid corn, 

 among newly sown beans and peas, 

 among ^oung clover, and in turnip 

 fields. The country being wooded 

 with several large oak, ash, and fir 

 plantings, they visit the fields by 

 hundreds during the early and later 

 parts of the year, when men are em- 

 ployed to shoot them, which is not 

 an easy task, owing to their extreme 

 watchfulness. A hut is made in the 

 corner, or in the hedge of a field, 

 near to the trees in which they 

 take refuge when disturbed, or 

 when resting from their plunder. 

 In this hut the sportsman takes his 

 station, waiting for a shot ; some- 

 times a stuffed bird or two are placed 

 among the clover or turnips, and 

 near to the hut as a lure. Some- 

 times as many as forty are shot in a 

 day in this way, and sometimes not 

 one. They sell in York at from four- 

 pence to sixpence each. A field 

 near a large wood being very much 

 injured by these pests, a hut was 

 erected, and a man engaged to shoot 

 •them. About eleven o'clock in the 

 morning, a pigeon was shot at and 

 escaped with the loss of its tail, or 

 the greater part thereof. The same 

 bird was shot about seven at night, 

 and was known to have visited the 

 field, but out of gun-shot reach, six 



times between eleven o'clock and 

 seven, and it might have visited it 

 more. The owner of the field, learn- 

 ing the above circumstances, sent 

 for me to see it opened. I opened 

 it in his presence, and we found in 

 the crop a good half pint of corn. 

 Supposing that the number of visits 

 had only been six, here was a des- 

 truction of three and a half pints of 

 corn by one bird alone ; but the visits 

 may safely be presumed to have been 

 ten, which would give five pints. I 

 should think that the bird, a female, 

 had a brood in some of the neigh- 

 bouring plantings or woods. Mul- 

 tiply this quantity by the great flocks 

 that infest our woods and fields, and 

 the destruction of agricultural pro- 

 duce by Wood Pigeons is immense. 

 The Duke of Richmond's keeper shot 

 on the Home Farm, at Gordon Cas- 

 tle, a Wood Pigeon, in whose crop 

 was found no less than 858 barley- 

 corns, which would do more than fill 

 half-a-pint. — John Eanson. York. 



Emheriza citrinella. — During one 

 of my strolls in our lanes, I was 

 much amused by the actions of a 

 female Yellow Hammer. She en- 

 deavoured to draw me from her nest, 

 to do which she feigned to be unable 

 to fly. She fluttered before me for 

 a hundred yards; the utmost ex- 

 tent of any one effort would not be 

 more than four or five yards, and 

 they appeared to be done with great 

 difficulty. When she alighted on 



