PIGEON SHOOTING. 149 



whose exterior plumage is of a bluish grey tint, 

 shading into darker and diverse hues, like a quaker's 

 robe, enlivened by the more mundane colours chosen 

 by a lady of quality to set off its sobriety, is indi- 

 genous to our islands. It is remarkable for the 

 downy softness and exquisite shading of its breast- 

 feathers, as well as for its graceful form. It is found 

 in wooded districts of England, in the southern 

 and midland counties of Scotland, and in Ireland. 

 The shyness of the bird is extreme before pairing, 

 after which it becomes almost sociable, resorting to 

 young plantations and shrubberies in great numbers, 

 where it may be observed mightily busy, engaged in 

 the different duties of incubation. As the food of 

 woodpigeons is very various, so the depredations they 

 commit on the green crops of the husbandman are 

 very extensive. They delight in grain and pulse ; 

 they eat the roots of several grasses, one of which, 

 Potentilla anserina, is picked up on the fallows. The 

 turnip crop of the farmer has frequently been well 

 nigh destroyed by them ; they attack beech-masts in 

 quantities, and reject few means of distending their 

 capacious craws. The wild note of the cushat is the 

 harbinger of mild weather, and forms, as it w^ere, 

 the indigenous melody of om' groves. It is not easily 

 domesticated, and requires infinite attention to rear. 

 A pair in the Zoological Gardens built a nest, which 

 happened to be dest]-03^ed ; and they have been fomid 

 to breed in the aviary at Knowsley ; but it w^ould 

 possibly require the passage of generations to enable 



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