WILD PIGEONS 171 



(Columba cznas] ; the third, the rockdove {Columba livid], 

 being, as its name implies, a denizen of the cliffs and rocks 

 around our coast. The ringdove is much the largest of 

 this trio of sporting fowl, its total length measurement 

 being some 17 inches, and its weight ranging from a 

 pound to a pound and a half. Stockdove and rockdove 

 approach more closely together in regard to size and 

 weight, each measuring about 14 inches in length and 

 weighing just under a pound as a rule. 



The wood-pigeon is with us all the year round, and 

 yet how few sportsmen make any systematic endeavour 

 to obtain a share of that exhilarating form of shooting, 

 which this fine sporting bird can on occasion afford. 

 During the short, dark days of mid-winter sportsmen 

 are frequently at a loss to know how best to spend their 

 time. All sportsmen, some more, some less, are slaves 

 of the weather, and what more dejected body of men can 

 one find anywhere, than a party of fox-hunters penned 

 up for days in some country house waiting for frost to 

 break or snow to vanish ? As likely as not the coverts 

 will have been shot through twice probably thrice ; of 

 snipe, too, there may be none; and after several days' 

 shooting at rabbits bolted by ferrets, such proceeding 

 will be voted insufferably slow by the gunner of average 

 energy. Still, those fond of the gun need not in most 

 well-timbered countries at least go sportless, as there 

 may then be more or less sport to be obtained with the 

 \vood-pigeons. In many situations there is, apart from 

 sport, a strong incentive to wage war upon the voracious 

 ringdove. The daily papers frequently contain accounts 

 of the damage inflicted by countless hordes of wood- 

 pigeons, whole fields of trefoil and clover now and again 



