138 Mr. P. R. Lowe on the last great flvjht [Ibis, 



month, but T t'eel fairly sure that it was April. I remember 

 too, that it was a Monday, for there had been a large flight 

 on the preceding day, and I can well recollect regretting that 

 it was a Sunday, as we had up till then never seen such an 

 unusual flight ; although, as it turned out, this was only the 

 advance guard. 



For many years previously there had o£ course taken place 

 the usual spring-flights from the south, but no one in those 

 days remembered ever having seen anything comparable to 

 the prodigious flight which occurred in the spring of 1869 

 or 1870. In previous years, if we had a bag of eight or 

 ten a day it was considered good shooting, unless indeed one 

 had had the fortune to be quietly lying in wait in the wood 

 when a large flock alighted in one's immediate neighbour- 

 hood. On such a lucky occasion the flock would always 

 first alight in the trees, and the birds would commence their 

 sweet plaintive calls, which were very similar to those of the 

 domestic pigeon but with a very much prettier trill and 

 accentuation, and a curious vcntriloquial effect. After 

 calling in this way for some time, a few birds, emboldened 

 by the apparent peace and safety, would fly down to the 

 ground, quickly followed by more and more, until hundreds 

 or the entire flock would soon be searching for the beech- 

 nuts on or under the fallen leaves. It was, as I have said, 

 on these fortunate occasions that one might get fifteen to 

 twenty-five birds, with a double shot just as they rose en 

 masse from the ground, but as a rule I was quite content 

 with ten birds in a day's shooting, and sometimes got none. 

 Moreover, in the years previous to the big flight, the pigeons 

 used to be very shy and difficult to approach, for usually the 

 trees and undergrowth had not begun to put forth their 

 leaves, and the birds, like wild geese, seemed to have a habit 

 of putting out sentinels, so that \Khen these flew away the 

 entire flock would be off. 



On the particular Monday of which I write the birds 

 came over in incredible numbers, some idea of which may be 

 gained by what happened to me personally. 



