DOVES. 



2 3 I 



" What is the meaning of this ? " asked Dick, pointing to the 

 mouth of a rabbit-hole which was barred in with sticks like a 

 cage. Inside the sticks were the feathers and part of the 

 skeleton of a stock-dove. 



The warrener replied, 



" The doves breed in the rabbit-holes, and we warreners keep 

 a ' dowe ' dog, which will tell us at once what holes have nests in 

 them ; and then, when the young ones are almost ready to fly, we 

 fasten them in the burrow with sticks, just like that, and the 



DOVES. 



old ones feed the young ones through the bars, and when the 

 young ones are fit to eat we kill them. I suppose the man 

 who fastened that burrow in forgot where it was, or the young 

 one died before it was worth eating." 



The boys now had to go back with their host, who, by the 

 way, made them so comfortable that they forgave him for 

 shooting their hawk. 



The next day found the boys approaching the cottages where 

 the warrener told them the bustards' eggs might be found. 



" Now," said Frank, as they stopped under the lee of the 



