BIRDS IN THE CALENDAR 
pen of the most ardent apologist they have 
ever had. Indeed, St. John did not hesitate 
to rate the farmers soundly for persecuting 
the bird in wilful ignorance of its unpaid 
services in clearing their ground of noxious 
weeds. Yet, however true his eloquent plea 
may have been in respect of his native 
Lothian, there would be some difficulty in 
persuading South Country agriculturists of 
the woodpigeon's hidden virtues. To those, 
however, who do not sow that they may 
reap, the subject of these remarks has 
irresistible charm. There is doubtless mono- 
tony in its cooing, yet, heard in a still 
plantation of firs, with no other sound than 
perhaps the distant call of a shepherd or 
barking of a farm dog, it is a music singu- 
larly in harmony with the peaceful scene. 
The arrowy flight of these birds when they 
come in from the fields at sundown and fall 
like rushing waters on the tree-tops is an 
even more memorable sound. To the sports- 
man, above all, the woodpigeon shows itself 
a splendid bird of freedom, more cunning 
than any hand-reared game-bird, swifter on 
the wing than any other purely wild bird, a 
40 
