THE WOOD PIGEON OR RING DOVE 205 



tened from its nest, perhaps attemliiig 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 drop in 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 



