22 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



there is no comparison between the two, the wild being 

 as much superior to the tame as a pheasant to a barn- 

 door fowl. 



The quantity of food supply derived from this source 

 is deserving of serious consideration. It is difficult, per- 

 haps impossible, to estimate the exact amount ; but from 

 the numbers of these birds brought into the market, and 

 the hundreds of thousands besides that go to the table 

 without ever having appeared on a poulterer's stall, some 

 idea may be deduced of their commercial value. And it is 

 worth remembering, that in this case the cost of produc- 

 tion is altogether disproportion ed to the value produced, 

 compared with that of barn-door fowls, or even pigeons 

 of the domesticated kind. Tho Quest may do a little 

 damage at seed-time and among the summer tares and 

 peas, or, in a very severe winter, peck holes in the 

 turnips, and eat off their tops, but the House pigeon 

 has to be credited with the same. 



It has been said that the turnip diet renders the flesh 

 of the wild species so rancid as to be unpalatable. The 

 naturalist of Selborne first made this assertion, and it has 

 been repeated by other writers over and over again. I 

 have not found it correct; and during times of frost and 

 snow I have had an excellent opportunity of testing its 

 accuracy. Never was there better, for, by the complete 

 failure of our usual berry crop, the wild pigeons have then 

 had no other provender than turnips ; and although I 

 have eaten several that were shot in the very act of feed- 

 ing on these vegetables, I could perceive nothing of the 

 rancidity spoken of. 



That the Quest is not the progenitor of our domestic 

 birds has been generally admitted. The very different 

 modes of their nidiftcation is ; to a certain extent, proof 



