88 PEPACTON 



places the fields and meadows swarm with them, 

 and the ground is undermined by their burrows, till 

 they become a serious pest to the farmer, and are 

 trapped in vast numbers. The same remark applies 

 to this from Tennyson : — 



"From the woods 

 Came voices of the well-contented doves." 



Doves and wood-pigeons are almost as abundant in 

 England as hares and rabbits, and are also a serious 

 annoyance to the farmer; while in this country the 

 dove and pigeon are much less marked and perma- 

 nent features in our rural scenery, — less perma- 

 nent, except in the case of the mourning dove, 

 which is found here and there the season through; 

 and less marked, except when the hordes of the 

 passenger pigeon once in a decade or two invade 

 the land, rarely tarrying longer than the bands of 

 a foraging army. I hardly know what Trowbridge 

 means by the "wood-pigeon" in his midsummer 

 poem, for, strictly speaking, the wood-pigeon is a 

 European bird, and a very common one in England. 

 But let me say here, however, that Trowbridge, as 

 a rule, keeps very close to the natural history of 

 his own country when he has occasion to draw mate- 

 rial from this source, and to American nature gen- 

 erally. You will find in his poems the wood 

 pewee, the bluebird, the oriole, the robin, the 

 grouse, the kingfisher, the chipmunk, the mink, 

 the bobolink, the wood thrush, etc., all in their 

 proper places. There are few bird-poems that com- 

 bine so much good poetry and good natural history 



