A Lesson in Nidifi cation 373 



probably none will so quickly grow into money, when a 

 good selection of site is made, and where good seed, or 

 young plants, can be obtained. But, then, the ideal forester 

 is not a game-preserver, and all I have attempted to say 

 here is that wherever the question of shelter for game 

 enters into a planting scheme, he is the wisest man who 

 keeps constantly before him the superior attractiveness of 

 spruce and silver firs. 



Late though the season was, Wood-Pigeons were still 

 cooing in the birch woods above Craig-y-tan, and a pair of 

 scarcely fledged young were noticed in one nest. The 

 Welsh rendering of the Ring Dove's song is Caerch du du 

 nghwdi^ which from the lips of a native gives quite as good 

 a representation of the liquid sounds as the better known 

 " Take two cows, Taffy." Euphonistically, it may be read 

 something like cc Caer dee dee nydi," and literally it means 

 " Oats, black, black, for my stomach," or " Oats, black oats 

 for me." There is also a legend current here, with reference 

 to the carelessly built nest of the Wood-Pigeon, which may 

 be worth repeating. It closely resembles some of those 

 prevalent in other parts of the country, some of which are 

 quoted by Mr Halliwell in his Popular Rhymes^ but differs 

 a little in detail. According to the common version, the 

 Magpie was entrusted, at the creation of the world, with the 

 task of teaching all the other birds how to build their nests ; 

 and how successfully his mission was carried out is seen in 

 the beautiful architecture of the Wren, and the Bottle-Tit. 

 The Dove, however, was an indifferent pupil, and so lazy 

 that she could not endure the labour of continually flying to 

 her nest (as instructed by the Magpie) with one stick only, 

 but kept on crying out, " Take two twigs now, Mag," till 

 the professor, in indignation, lost patience and resigned his 

 job. The Welsh variant is that it was the clay, which the 

 Magpie insisted upon using to bind the twigs together for 

 the foundation of the nest, that offended the Dove's idea of 

 cleanliness, and soiled her pink feet ; so that she protested, 

 " Mud'll no' do, Maggie," and was therefore left to do the 

 best she could without it. 



In Merionethshire, the Wood-Pigeon sometimes com- 



