THE CUSHIE-DOO. 97 



voracious grain and vegetable eaters, they do 

 a vast deal of harm to farm crops. In the 

 autumn they gather into large flocks, feeding 

 on the farmer's autumn-sown wheat, beech masts, 

 and acorns (which they swallow whole), and in 

 winter on the seeds of various kinds of weeds 

 and the green shoots of the " sheughed " swedes. 

 From my youth up the Cushat has been 

 familiar to me, and when a boy residing with 

 an aged relative, who was very fond of pigeon 

 broth, I had perforce to study its habits in 

 order to secure specimens for the pot, at times 

 a no light task. Of a wild and distrustful 

 nature, the Cushat will not allow anyone to 

 approach within gun-shot in the open fields, 

 but by noting where the birds feed, and getting 

 under cover, they can be shot when they alight, 

 which they do after circling round ; but you 

 have to look sharp, for when they settle on 

 the ground they have a good look round before 

 they begin to feed, and if any movement or 

 anything strange arouses their suspicions, they 



