THE WOODPIGEON 



small parties and to post these in neighbour- 

 ing plantations or lining hedges overlooking 

 these spinneys. At a given signal the firing 

 commences and is kept up for several hours, 

 a number of the marauders being killed and 

 the rest so harried that many of them must 

 leave the neighbourhood, only to find a 

 similar warm welcome across the border. 

 Some such concerted attack has of late years 

 been rendered necessary by the great in- 

 crease in the winter invasion from overseas. 

 It is probable that, as most writers on the 

 subject insist, the wanderings of these birds 

 are for the most part restricted to these 

 islands and are mere food forays, like those 

 which cause locusts to desert a district that 

 they have stripped bare for pastures new. At 

 the same time, it seems to be beyond all 

 doubt the fact that huge flocks of wood- 

 pigeons reach our shores annually from Scan- 

 dinavia, and their inroads have had such 

 serious results that it is only by joint action 

 that their numbers can be kept under. For 

 such work February is obviously the month, 

 not only because most of their damage to the 

 growing crops and seeds is accomplished at 

 35 



