186 Bishop, Birds in the Markets of Southern Europe. [April 



"Delaware Snipe" was served on the steamer some few hundred 

 miles out of New York. 



In England at Flamboro Head in Yorkshire on June 19, eggers 

 were taking for market the eggs of Murres, Razor-billed Auks, 

 Puffins, and Kittiwakes, as they have for generations, and the 

 English treatment of the Wood Pigeon the following extracts from 

 the " London Daily Mail" for last March will show. 



"Pigeon Plague 

 Slaughter in the Isle of Wight. 



A great slaughter of wood pigeons took place yesterday all over 

 the Isle of Wight, where farmers have suffered severely from the 

 depredations of the birds. It is estimated that quite a thousand 

 guns were enrolled for the campaign, among them being landowners, 

 occupiers and shooting tenants, who were publicly invited to take 

 part. The guns were stationed in woods and coppices over a wide 

 area during the afternoon, and they remained there until dark. 

 Some large bags were obtained. 



In the neighbourhood of Saffron Walden, Essex, another district 

 where the birds are a plague, farmers, sportsmen and gamekeepers, 

 will tomorrow renew the combined attack of Saturday last upon 

 marauding flights of wood pigeons. Last Saturday nearly 200 

 guns turned out. Tomorrow it is expected that nearly double the 

 number will take up the assault. 



The lesson of the efficacy of such an assault was first taught by 

 the farmers of Devon and Somerset a few years ago, when great 

 combined shoots were organized as a result of the havoc wrought 

 by these feathered aliens among the green crops of the neighbour- 

 hood. Many thousands of wood pigeons fell as a result, and the 

 plague was considerably minimised, if not absolutely brought to 

 an end, over a large area of country. 



The plan of campaign last Saturday was to make a simultaneous 

 attack on the birds as they returned in the late afternoon from the 

 fields to their roosting-trees. 



It Was decided to man all likely places which the birds might 

 pass on their homeward flight, and many such places were manned. 

 The destruction already wrought shows the wisdom of combination 

 in this direction, and the two more Saturday assaults which will 



