THE RING-DOVE 235 



distance covered by the flock from front to rear, lest 

 I should be accused of exaggeration ; but there must 

 have been, to put it mildly, very many thousands 

 in the flock. Some of my readers may know that 

 part of the country, and if so, they will recognize 

 the names of the places to which I am about 

 to refer. A friend of mine stated to me that he 

 noticed the head of the flock entering the wood 

 on Toot Hill when the rear of it was crossing 

 the river Test at that part of it which flows 

 below the well-known summer-house in the shrub- 

 bery, named after Lord Palmerston, the former 

 owner of the property. Nor was this a mere 

 lengthened straggling stream of birds, but a broad, 

 dense flock. 



There is an individual who, travelling about 

 Wiltshire, earns his livelihood by undertaking 

 to destroy the pigeons for the farmers at certain 

 times of the year, and a very good thing he 

 makes out of it, I believe, though the system 

 which he adopts necessitates some days of careful 

 preparation in order to attract a sufficient number 

 of birds. 



The note of the wood-pigeon calling to its mate 

 is one of our most pleasing woodland sounds. It 

 may, perhaps, be best described as C6o-coo, coo, 

 coo-coo, often repeated, and generally ending with 

 a cooc. 



There are few birds which test the skill of the 

 gunner more than a wood-pigeon in full swing 

 rattling through the tree-tops, and if an attempt is 



