36 The Naturalist in Siluria. 



statutes. Indeed, the damage they do is far more than 

 made up by the value of their flesh as a food commodity. 

 It is to be remembered that they give some compensation 

 also by the destruction of the seeds and roots of noxioug 

 weeds, which would otherwise infest the ground set apart 

 for cultivation. 



With regard to the bitterness said to be infused into 

 the flesh of the Quest when fed on turnips, I am still 

 inclined to believe the allegation an error. This very 

 day I have eaten of one in whose crop, when filled, there 

 was nothing but turnip tops, and I am quite sure these 

 had been its food for weeks past, yet I could not per- 

 ceive the slightest taint of that " rancidity " spoken of 

 by Gilbert White (though not as his own experience), 

 and repeated in almost every ornithological work and 

 cyclopaedia written since his day. 



The author of " British Birds/' in a chapter devoted to 

 the Rock-dove, says : " I have observed in a flock of 

 tame pigeons feeding in a field the hind ones, every few 

 moments, flying over the rest and taking their places 

 in front, to have their turn of the best pickings, and 

 this in constant succession, as if the whole of the flock 

 admitted the right in each other, and claimed it indi- 

 vidually for themselves." I think it likely that the Rock- 

 dove acts in a similar manner, but as regards the Ring- 

 dove or Quest, I have never observed it. These certainly 

 do not move so while feeding in the turnip fields, though 

 that is not a true test, since the food thus provided does 

 not call for much moving about. But when they do 

 change place, either walking or on the wing, it is with- 

 out any regularity of formation or direction. The de- 

 scription, however, if inapplicable to the Quest, is in 

 exact accordance with what I have myself witnessed in 



