FOOD OF THE RING-DOVE. 269 



of Christian Malford in North Wilts, and in the meadows near 

 Paradise Gardens at Oxford, where I have often heard them cry 

 crex, crex. The bird mentioned above weighed 7| oz., was fat 

 and tender, and in flavour like the flesh of a woodcock. The 

 liver was very large and delicate * 



FOOD OF THE RING-DOVE. 



ONE of my neighbours shot a ring-dove on an evening as it 

 was returning from feed and going to roost. When his wife had 

 picked and drawn it, she found its craw stuffed with the most 

 nice arid tender tops of turnips. These she washed and boiled, 

 and so sat down to a choice and delicate plate of greens, culled 

 and provided in this extraordinary manner. 



Hence we may see that graminivorous birds, when grain fails, 

 can subsist on the leaves of vegetables. f There is reason to 

 suppose that they would not long be healthy without ; for tur- 

 keys, though corn fed, delight in a variety of plants, such as 

 cabbage, lettuce, endive, &c., and poultry pick much grass ; while 

 geese live for months together on commons by grazing alone. 



' Nought is useless made !- 



- On the barren heath 



The shepherd tends his flock that daily crop 

 Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf 

 Sufficient : after them the cackling goose, 

 Close-grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want." 



PHILIP'S CYDER. 



* Land-rails are more plentiful with us than in the neighbourhood of Selborne. I have found 

 four brace in an afternoon, and a friend of mine lately shot nine in two adjoining fields ; but I 

 never saw them in any other season than the autumn. 



That it is a bird of passage there can be little doubt, though Mr. White thinks it poorly quali- 

 fied for migration, on account of the wings being short and not placed in the exact centre of 

 gravity : how that may be 1 cannot say, but I know that its heavy sluggish flight is not owing to 

 its inability of flying faster, for I have seen it fly very swiftly, although in general its actions 

 are sluggish. Its unwillingness to rise proceeds, 1 imagine, from its sluggish disposition, and its 

 great timidity, for it will sometimes squat so close to the ground as to suffer itself to be taken up 

 by the hand, rather than rise ; and yet it will at times run very fast. 



What Mr, White remarks respecting the small shell snails found in its gizzard confirms my 

 opinion that it frequents corn-fields, seed-clover, and brakes or fern, more for the sake of snails, 

 slugs, and other insects which abound in such places, than for the grain or seeds ; and that it is 

 entirely an insectivorous bird.* MARKWICK. 



* It is also a corn-feeder. ED. 



t That many graminivorous birds feed also on the herbage or leaves of plants there can be, 

 no doubt: partridges and larks frequently feed on the green leaves of turnips, which gives a 

 peculiar flavour to their flesh, that is, to me, very palatable : the flavour also of wild ducks and 

 geese greatly depends on the nature of their food; and their flesh frequently contracts a rank 

 unpleasant taste, from their having lately fed on strong marshy aquatic plants as I suppose. 



That the leaves of vegetables are wholesome and conducive to the health of birds seems pro- 

 bable, for many people fat their ducks and turkeys with the leaves of lettuce chopped small. 

 MARKWICX. 



