THE WOOD-PIGEON fill 



THE WOOD-PIQEON 

 [W. P. PYCHAPT] 



Of our niitixr pigeons the wood-pigeon is undoubtedly the beat 

 known, as it is also the most numerous and the largest In the 

 open country one of the most wary and suspicious of birds, yet 

 wherever amid cities large open spaces with an abundance of trees 

 are to be met with, there the wood-pigeon takes up its abode, and 

 loses at once its fear and dread of man : no others of our native 

 birds display quite such trustfulness, though the sparrow and the 

 water-hen run it very close in this respect In the gardens of the 

 Tuilleries years ago I witnessed and others, perchance, may have 

 the same good fortune to-day a most interesting instance of the 

 wonderful lameness which these birds may display while enjoying 

 their full liberty, for " wild " birds they could hardly be called. In 

 this particular case a man had long accustomed them to expect his 

 appearance at a certain time during the day laden with food. The 

 moment he arrived they clustered round him in eager excitement, 

 alighting on his arms, shoulders, and head, and taking food from his 

 hands and lips. Meanwhile a no less eager crowd gathered round his 

 feet Having rewarded one or two, he would, at a given signal, dismiss 

 them, and others would at once take their place. And this system 

 of rotation was constantly repeated till the store of food was done. 

 In London parks, of which they began to take possession about the 

 year 1883, a similar confidence in the human race is displayed : they 

 will even alight on children's perambulators to pick up bread if 

 enticed to do so. All this is the more curious, because wood-pigeons 

 reared from the nest away from towns generally develop all the wild- 

 ness of their race as soon as they attain the power of flight 



During the last hundred years the numbers of this bird have 

 increased amazingly, owing in part to the destruction of predatory 



