TBE WOOD-PIGEON. 



(Feb. 25, 1888.) 



PEOBABLY the last bird that a countryman would 

 expect to find in London would be the ring- 

 dove,, or, as it is more commonly called, the wood- 

 pigeon ; yet this bird, though not by any means 

 common, is generally to be seen in the Parks, and 

 can certainly claim to be included in any list oi 

 London birds, as it is found so near the centre, if 

 not of London proper, at least of the cab radius as 

 St. James's Park, and may occasionally be seen 

 under the shadow of the Clock Tower at West- 

 minster, in the trees near the Sessions House, and 

 is not unknown in Whitehall. 



It is certainly curious that a bird naturally so 

 wild and wary as the wood-pigeon should so alter 

 its habit as to live the year through in parks even 

 as large as those of the West End, surrounded as 

 they are by miles of streets and buildings. Those 

 birds, however, that have chosen London as their 

 dwelling-place, while in no way comparable in 

 tameness to the dovecote pigeons which congregate 

 in such large numbers about many of our public 

 buildings, are, no doubt from long immunity from 

 disturbance, so free from fear of man that they 



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