64 RIVERSIDE LETTERS VIM 



when they start out of my shrubbery with 

 tremendous slapping of their powerful wings. 

 They are wonderfully heavy birds and seem 

 to fly with considerable exertion. It is quite 

 possible that their nests may be low down and 

 easy to find, for I saw last year, in a friend's 

 garden, a woodpigeon sitting close on her 

 nest in a thorn bush, not more than eight 

 feet from the ground ; the bush itself grew at 

 one corner of a tennis-court on which games 

 were played continually, and the bird would 

 allow people to look at her without stirring. 



I received an interesting letter from a very 

 old friend who resides at Lewes, in which 

 were notes on one or two subjects mentioned 

 in my former letters ; he gives a receipt for 

 making proper food for young birds, such as 

 I described in Letter XIX. It is, "ground 

 oatmeal rubbed through a fine sieve, so as 

 to get rid of every particle of husk, which 

 would otherwise choke them ; mix with this 

 a small portion of almost any kind of sweet 

 biscuit, and add a fresh snail chopped very 



