i;2 THE GUN: AFIELD AND AFLOAT 



being completely devastated by these, creatures. Ring- 

 doves have enormous appetites ; the amount of succulent 

 green food in the form of clover-leaves, or turnip-tops, or 

 of more solid matter, such as wheat, barley or other 

 grain, that can be stowed away in their elastic crops 

 must be seen to be thoroughly realized. 



In early spring the wood-pigeon is on his very worst 

 behaviour, for if the weather is mild he fairly revels in 

 the springing pastures of young clover and other seeds, 

 picking out the central buds and tender shoots, doing in 

 the course of a few days incalculable harm by greatly 

 retarding the growth of the plant, and thus destroying in 

 great measure the farmer's hope of early pasturage for 

 his sheep. A most careful and painstaking observer of 

 birds and their habits, the late Lord Lilford, has placed 

 it upon record as his deliberate opinion that the wood- 

 pigeon is all but purely detrimental to the farmer, his 

 good deeds being in no way comparable to the damage 

 he inflicts. This being so, there is every incentive to the 

 gunner to secure every available bit of sport with the 

 wood-pigeons, for with each bird added to the bag comes 

 the comforting assurance that an enemy to good hus- 

 bandry has been despatched. It is, of course, pretty 

 generally known that the ranks of our home-bred wood- 

 pigeons are greatly augmented by the arrival of conti- 

 nental birds during late autumn. The rigours of winter 

 in Northern Europe prove too trying for even the hardy 

 wood-pigeon ; consequently, neither ringdove nor stock- 

 dove will remain there, the probability being that many 

 Scandinavian birds find their way to this country. In 

 most seasons, about the end of November or the begin- 

 ning of December, tens of thousands of wild pigeons 



