THE WOOD PIGEON OR RING DOVE. 329 



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 con- 

 sequently war is waged on them unsparingly. 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 dis- 

 cover 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 some- 

 times 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 



* Mr. Hepburn, in the Zoologist, vol. i. p. 370. 



