136 RING PIGEON, OR CUSHAT. 



so great is their vigilance, that it is almost impossi- 

 ble, by any device, to get within gun-shot. In the 

 evening they retire to the woods to roost, preferring 

 those of the fir tribe and the ash to any other, and 

 in those nocturnal retreats great slaughter is some- 

 times committed, by waiting in concealment their 

 arrival, which regularly takes place immediately after 

 sunset. 



As we have previously remarked, the first mild 

 weather in February produces an immediate effect 

 upon these congregated pigeons, and we may almost 

 calculate to a day when their cooing and plaintive 

 murmurs will again be heard in their wonted sum- 

 mer haunts. The flocks are now seen daily to de- 

 crease in magnitude, and in a short time every wood 

 and copse becomes peopled with the numerous pairs 

 of this lovely bird. The male soon after commences 

 a flight peculiar to the season of courtship and love, 

 this is a rising and falling in the air, by alternate 

 movements, in which flight, and when at the great- 

 est elevation, the upper surfaces of the wings are 

 brought so forcibly into contact, as to be heard at a 

 considerable distance. Nidification soon follows this 

 well-known signal, and by the end of April the young 

 in many instances are fully fledged, and ready to quit 

 the nest. Few, however, of the early brood, com~ 

 paratively speaking, attain maturity, as the eggs at 

 this season, from the naked state of the woods, are 

 easily discovered by the prying eye and inquisitive 



