PIGEON SHOOTING. 149 



rent and thighs have an ash hue, and the bastard wing is ahnost 

 black. Eehind it a few of the coverts are white, forming a line 

 down to the larger quills, which are dusky, fringed wdth white. 

 The legs are feathered much below the knee, which, with the het, 

 are of a pui'plish red. There is little or no distinction in the 

 plumage of the sexes, but the female is not quite so large. 



It is a disputed point among naturalists whether the wild pigeon 

 migrates farther than from the northern parts of tliis island to the 

 southern. Its nest is rather rude, as most schoolboys know. 

 Graham says : — 



" So rudely is it formed. 

 That oft the simple boy who counts the hours 

 By blowing off the dandelion flowers. 

 Mistakes the witch-knots for the cushat's nest." 



Some writers think the wood-pigeon (for it often goes by tin's 

 name) has decreased within late years very much. We think 

 this a mistake. Of course we do' not know how matters stood 

 w^henMr. White of Selborne wrote his admirable History, but we 

 know something of the bkd for the last half centui-y, and our 

 belief is that it is as numerous now,_ if not more so, than at any 

 previous period of history. It is impossible to travel in any 

 direction in Great Britain and not see vast flocks of them, at least 

 on those tracts of country which abound Avith a fair portion of 

 wood, and are in a state of tolerable cultivation. Mr. White says 

 on this point that " he had often killed near twenty in a day, and 

 that on some occasions, with a long fowhng-])iece, he has even 

 shot seven or eight at a time on the wdng, as they canie wheeling 

 over his head, and that there were often among them little parties 

 of small blue doves, which are called rockiers." 



The v\ild pigeon requii-es rather a severe blow with the shot to 

 knock it down. Its feathers are close, and resist shot like those 

 of water-fowl. When these bnds collect in considerable mmibers 

 about turnip fields in Avinter, they invariably set scouts out to 

 watch over a sm-prise. These sit on some two or three of the 

 Idghest trees in the neighbourhood, and when they give the alarm 

 the entne body move ofi" in quick time. We have been often 

 struck, and sometimes a little mortified into the bargain, to see 

 how adroitly and cleverly these sentinels perform their duty. Yet 

 in spite of their instmctive and systematic vigilance, the sports- 

 man'may often succeed in getting Avithin range of them, anddo 

 considerable execution, by having a pretty good gun, and using 



Eretty good sized shot. In the months of Jidy and August we 

 ave often noticed this bird visiting old pasture fields, and feeding 

 rather keenly on the seeds of a species of grass which is then 

 alnmdant. We have not failed to profit bythis hint as to such 

 localities, and have sometimes done execution in them when all 

 other places were of little avail. 



