576 PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM. 



" As young pigeons alone are used, and as pigeons do not 

 hatch in winter, they require no other notice at present than 

 what regards their feeding ; and to give an idea of their 

 gastronomic powers, of three rock -doves sent to Professor 

 MacGillivray, 'the number of oat-seeds in the crop of the 

 second amounted to 1000 and odds, and the barley-seeds in 

 that of another were 510. Now, supposing/ he observes, 

 ' there may be 5000 wild pigeons in Shetland or in Fetlar, 

 which feed on grain for six months every year, and fill their 

 crops once a-day, half of them with barley and half with oats, 

 the number of seeds picked up by them would amount to 

 229,500,000 grains of barley, and 450,000,000 grains of oats, 

 a quantity which would gladden many poor families in a sea- 

 son of scarcity. I am unable/ he adds, ' to estimate the 

 number of bushels, and must leave the task to the curious/ * 

 I was one of the curious to undertake the task, and found the 

 result to be 422 bushels, or 52 quarters 6 bushels of barley; 

 and 786 bushels, or 98 quarters 2 bushels of oats or 351 

 quarters of grain in all." ( 



The quantity of oats and barley consumed by pigeons sounds 

 very large when, as above, looked at in the aggregate as the 

 accumulation of the food of 5000 such birds. But when it is 

 regarded simply as the food of one pigeon, it does not strike 

 so much. A thousand oat-seeds weigh about 10 drachms 

 that is, 2 drachms more than one oz. Troy; and 500 bar- 

 leycorns weigh about 7 drachms. The proportion of flesh- 

 formers in oats, per cent, is 16, that of heat-givers 76.4, that 



* MacGillivray's 'History of British Birds,' vol. i. p. 285. 



*h "I ascertained the result by weight, and as the facts may be worth re- 

 cording, I may mention that in an average of 3 drachms there were 75 

 grains of chevalier barley in each drachm, of a sample weighing 56^ lb. 

 per bushel ; and 97 grains of Siberian early oat in 1 drachm, of a sample 

 weighing 46 lb. per bushel. Of Chidham wheat, a favourite food of pigeons, 

 weighing 65 lb. per bushel, there were 86 grains in the drachm." 'Book of 

 the Farm.' 



