THE WOOD PIGEON OR RING DOVE 205 
tened from its nest, perhaps attending on its mate, or it may have 
been simply digesting its last meal, or waiting until sent forth 
by the cravings of hunger in quest of a new one; for the bird, 
though exemplary as a spouse and parent, has a large crop which 
is never allowed to remain long empty. The food and habits of 
Wood Pigeons vary with the season. In spring and summer they are 
most frequently seen alone or in pairs. They then feed principally 
on the tender leaves of growing plants, and often commit great 
ravage in fields of beans and peas. Spring-sown corn is attacked 
by them both in the grain and the blade, and as soon as young 
turnips have put forth their second pair of leaves, they, too, come 
in for their share of devastation. As the season advances, they visit 
the corn-fields, especially those in the vicinity of their native woods, 
preferring, above all, those parts where the corn has been laid, and 
where a neighbouring grove or thicket will afford them a ready 
retreat if disturbed. They are very partial also to oily seeds of 
all kinds, and it is said that since colza has been extensively grown 
in the south of France, Wood Pigeons have become a scourge of 
agriculture, and that consequently war is waged on them unspar- 
ingly. It has been remarked also, that they have become much 
more abundant in Scotland in consequence of ‘ the great increase 
in the cultivation of turnips and clover, which afford them a con- 
stant supply of food during winter, and the great increase of fir 
woods, which are their delight, both for roosting and rearing their 
young’. At the approach of autumn they assemble in small flocks, 
and resort to oak and beech woods, especially the last, where acorns 
and beech-mast, swallowed whole, afford them an abundant and 
generous diet. They are now in great demand for the table, but, 
being very cautious and shy, are difficult of approach. A good many, 
however, are shot by men and boys, who discover beforehand in 
what particular trees they roost, and, lying in ambush to await their 
arrival, fire at them as they dropin in small parties. In winter, the 
small flocks unite and form large ones. So large, indeed, are these 
sometimes in severe seasons, that it is fair to suppose that their 
numbers are considerably augmented by subsidies from colder 
climates, driven southwards perhaps by scarcity of food. In dis- 
tricts abounding in oak and beech woods, they find abundance of 
food during the greater part of the winter; but when this supply 
is exhausted, or the ground is covered with snow, they repair once 
more to the turnip-fields, and feed on the green leaves. Hunger, 
however, does not rob them of their shyness, nor make them con- 
fiding ; for let a human figure appear in ever so large a field where 
a flock is feeding, the alarm is at once caught and communicated 
to the whole party, who lose no time in displaying the white bar 
on the wing, and are soon beyond the reach of fowler and gun. 
Among the first woodland sounds of spring and the last of 
autumn is the note of the Ring Dove, often continued for a long 
