CHAP. FIFTEEN PIGEONS ^ DOVES 



OWING to the decrease of vermin, that is, of 

 all the carnivorous birds and beasts of the 

 country, there is a proportionate increase in 

 the numbers of the different living creatures 

 on which they preyed. I do not here allude to game only, 

 but to all the other y^ri^' nahira; of the district. Wood-pig- 

 eons, blackbirds, thrushes, and all thesmallerbirdsincrease 

 yearly in consequence of the destruction of their natural 

 enemies. The wood-pigeon in particular has multiplied to 

 a great extent. The farmers complain constantly to me of 

 the mischief done by these birds, whom I cannot defend by 

 giving them the credit of atoning for their consumption of 

 corn by an equal or greater consumption of grubs and other 

 noxious insects.as they feed wholly onseedsand vegetables. 

 An agricultural friend of mine near this place, who had 

 yielded with a tolerably good grace to my arguments in 

 favour of the rook, pointed out to me the other day (March 

 6th) an immense flock of wood-pigeons busily at work on 

 a field of young clover, which had been under barley the 

 last season. "There," he said, "you constantly say that 

 every bird does more good than harm; what good are those 

 birds doing to my young clover.''" On this, in furtherance 

 of my favourite axiom, that every wild animal is of some 

 service to us, I determined to shoot some of the wood-picr- 

 eons, that I might see what they actually were feeding on; 

 for I did not at all fall into my friend's idea that they were 

 grazing on his clover. By watching in their line of flight 

 from the field to the woods, and sending a man round to 

 drive them off the clover, I managed to kill eight of the 

 birds as they flew over my head. I took them to his house, 

 191 



