RINGDOVE. 353 



leaf of the turnip, they also devour large quantities 

 of berries, such as those of the ivy and mountain 

 ash. A very remarkable instance of the manner in which 

 birds are attracted from all quarters, by some mysterious 

 instinct, to any local abundance of their favourite food, 

 occurred in the autumn of 1843, when this county was 

 visited by one of the most fearful hailstorms ever known 

 in the Eastern Counties. This storm, which took a 

 direct route from Attleborough to Postwick, in a line of 

 from two to three miles in width, committed frightful 

 havoc amongst the cereal crops, levelling them with the 

 ground, and scattering the grain, then ripe in the ear, in 

 some places nearly three inches deep in the fields ; and it 

 was this very circumstance that caused immense flocks 

 of wood-pigeons, as though summoned by invitation to 

 one common feast, to arrive all at once in that particular 

 district. Mr. Edwards, of Keswick, to whom I am 

 indebted for much valuable information, respecting the 

 habits of many of our resident species, was at that time 

 residing near the line of devastation, at Wattlefield, and 

 assures me that they came in such numbers that it 

 seemed as if all the wood-pigeons in the county had 

 suddenly collected together into that one locality. 

 Amongst the wood-pigeons were also hundreds of 

 stock-doves, a species only abundant in the warren 

 parts of Norfolk, many miles from the scene of this 

 terrible visitation. By shooting at them as they fed 



injure the farmers crops to a very serious extent. Amongst other 

 seeds which it eats are those of the rag weed. The wood-pigeon 

 not being able to scratch up seed can only feed on those which lie 

 exposed. * * * Although there is a great extent of new sown 

 wheat (Nov. 23,) in every direction, I shoot wood-pigeons with 

 their crops full of the seed of the dock and without a single grain 

 of corn. They also have in their crops a great deal of the rag 

 weed, and small potatoes as large as marbles." [Nat. Hist, and 

 Sport in Moray.] 



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