278 THE BIRDS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



beetroot, and mangold, young clover-leaves and seed, 

 and a small onion-like bulb of which we do not 

 know the correct name. We hold the flesh of this 

 species in high estimation for the table, and our 

 county affords but little better real sport than Wood- 

 Pigeon shooting, for as everybody knows, this bird, 

 though very tame and familiar in the nesting-season, 

 is one of the wariest of animals at other times, and 

 he who wishes to make a bag of these Pigeons 

 between October and March must have all his wits 

 about him, and " shoot straight " and quickly. 

 There is, of course, no art in waiting well concealed 

 and shooting the birds as they settle to roost on 

 trees or to feed upon the ground, but though this 

 method of slaughter has its attractions, the real 

 " cream " of shooting is to select a comparatively 

 open spot in a wood or plantation frequented by 

 Wood-Pigeons in the morning, and kill or try to kill 

 them as they dash over the tree-tops. My friend 

 Mr. Hunt, of Wadenhoe, brought the shooting of 

 wild Pigeons in this neighbourhood to the rank of a 

 science, of which he was a most highly accomplished 

 professor, and from his constant residence at Waden- 

 hoe, his rapid and accurate insight of the habits of 

 birds, his activity, and " straight powder," during 

 several years, destroyed very large numbers of these 

 excellent birds ; on one evening in March he killed 

 seventy Wood-Pigeons in about two hours, all on the 

 wing, over one of our plantations, and some forty in 

 the same way near the same spot on the following 

 day. At certain times of the year many Pigeons 

 may be decoyed on their favourite feeding-grounds 

 by " stales," i. e. wooden or stuffed Pigeons, and 

 Mr. Hunt most successfully introduced and carried 

 out this method in this neighbourhood. It appears to 



