WILD PIGEONS AND DOVES 335 



In reply I called his attention to the fact that there 

 was nothing to warrant his conclusion that I shot swal- 

 lows — as a matter of fact, my shooting trips for the 

 most part had been to places where the best birds pre- 

 vented my using ammunition upon many inferior game 

 birds, which would be, however, considered prizes in 

 Mr. Mather's neighborhood. A fortiori I had no use 

 for swallows. I also called his attention to the fact 

 that Forester included the tuneful swan of poetry (the 

 bird which he had no doubt observed floating grace- 

 fully on many cemetery lakes) in his list of game, and 

 urged that (if sentiment were to govern) he first strike 

 the swan from the Forester list. President Harrison 

 about that time had been shooting swans as the guest 

 of one of the clubs at Currituck. 



As a matter of fact the dove is a pugnacious bird not 

 deserving of sentiment, and no more tame than the 

 partridge or Bob-white is at certain seasons. Although 

 doves may occasionally nest in an orchard near the 

 house, in the early autumn they are soon seen flocking 

 together and feeding on distant fields where the sports- 

 man will find it difficult to stalk them, and by no means 

 easy to shoot them from ambush. The partridges may 

 be found equally tame in summer, even nesting in 

 kitchen gardens. I have had excellent sport with both 

 pigeons and doves and consider them far better game 

 (both as marks and food) than most of the shore birds 

 or waders. 



Dogs, both the setters and pointers, recognize the 

 doves as game birds and often point them in the corn- 

 fields when the weeds are sufficiently high for the 

 birds to lie to them. The shooting is then similar to 



