PIGEONS. 219 



answers so much better than attempting to follow 

 them. Some hide themselves among the trees, where 

 they come to roost about sunset : others take them 

 at perch, after the fall of the leaf, by moonlight* 

 (the way poachers shoot pheasants) ; and many are 

 killed by boys in the summer, who conceal them- 

 selves, in a harbour, near the ponds where these birds 

 and the doves go to drink. But, after all, the most 

 effectual way is to shoot them when they come to the 

 turnips in snowy weather. If the frost is so hard 

 that you cannot approach them, under cover of a 

 fence, without making a noise on the white ice, you 

 must, after moving them, wait, to leeward, for their 

 return. If you can make a place in a hedge, it is 

 preferable to the common plan of putting up hurdles 

 covered with straw, as the woodpigeons are apt to 

 notice, and feed out of reach of them. These birds 

 are fond of frequenting beech trees, and feeding on 

 the nuts that fall from them. 



To get shots at woodpigeons round a fir clump, or 

 plantation, send your man on the opposite side to 

 drive them out before you ; or they will, ten to one, 

 go off under cover of the tree from which they fly. 

 By waiting concealed in the covert, you may often 



* This the woodpigeons will not allow you to do, unless the 

 trees are clear of underwood ; as the least rustling of bushes 

 would put them to flight. For this reason (as Mr. Daniel very 

 justly remarks) they are an excellent night signal, to keepers, 

 when poachers have availed themselves of boisterous weather to 

 :tttack it preserved covert. 



