Incorrect Counting by Labourers, 113 



But with an ordinary gun it is not credible ; and the 

 statement, without wilful exaggeration, may arise 

 from confusion in counting, for it is a fact that some 

 of the older uneducated country labourers cannot 

 reckon correctly. It is not unusual in parishes to hear 

 of a cottage woman who has had twenty children. 

 Upon investigation the real number is found to be 

 sixteen or seventeen, yet nothing on earth will convince 

 the mother that she has not given birth to a score. 

 They get hazy in figures when exceeding a dozen. 



A pigeon is not easily brought down — the quills 

 are so stiff and strong that the shot, if it comes aslant, 

 will glance off. Many pigeons roost in the oaks of the 

 hedges, choosing by preference one well hung with 

 ivy, and when it is a moonlit night afford tolerable 

 sport. It requires a gun on each side of the hedge. 

 A stick flung up awakes the birds ; they rise with a 

 rush and clatter, and in the wildness of their flight 

 and the dim light are difficult to hit. There is a be- 

 lief that pigeons are partially deaf. If stalked in the 

 daytime they take little heed of footsteps or slight 

 noises which would alarm other creatures ; but, on 

 the other hand, they are quick of eye, and are gone 

 directly anything suspicious appears in sight. You 

 may get quite under them and shoot them on the 

 bough at night. It is not their greater wakefulness 



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