WOOD PIGEONS. 



449 



with bluish, green, and rose-coloured reflections. They are 

 spread throughout all Europe, but chiefly in warm and tem- 

 perate parts. They are very common in France, where they 

 arrive in numerous flocks early in March, generally departing 

 in October or November to pass the winter in more hospitable 

 climates. At the time of their passage the Alpine and 

 Pyrenean hunters destroy them in large quantities. The Wood 

 Pigeons or Cushats inhabit forests, and delight among the 

 branches of large trees. They feed upon acorns and beech- 

 nuts, and are very partial to cherries and strawberries. With 

 the farmers this bird is far from a favourite, for its appetite is 

 insatiable, and it is alike destructive to grain in the ear or ger- 

 minating. They build their nests in lofty trees. The female, after 

 having chosen a place, forms the nest out of materials which the 

 male brings her, such as little 

 dead branches which it detaches 

 from trees by the aid of its feet 

 or beak ; it never picks up the 

 boughs which strew the ground. 

 This nest is but a rude shelter, 

 scarcely large enough to contain 

 the young, and sometimes falls - 

 to pieces before they are able to 

 fly; in this case the brood re- 

 tains, if possible, a position on 

 the large branches which sup- 

 ported their previous dwelling. 

 Queests, as they are frequently called, generally lay in March 

 and August. Incubation lasts twelve days, and the young can 

 take flight about two weeks afterwards. During all the time 

 of the incubation and education of the young the male remains 

 near the female, constantly cooing, as if to break the monotony 

 of her occupation. In the wild state Ring Pigeons are distrustful 

 and difiicult of approach, but their characters become modified 

 by domestication, or even by an independent life passed in the 

 neighbourhood of man. Thus young ones taken from their birth 

 familiarise themselves without difiiculty, and do not appear to 

 regret having lost their liberty. They do not breed in this con- 



G G 



Fig. 182. — Ihe Wuud or Kiug Pigeon {CoLumUa 

 (E/ias, Selby). 



