BIRDS OF GUERNSEY. 109 



congratulate themselves on the fact, the Wood 

 Pigeons do not breed in very great numbers. I may 

 mention the trees in the New Ground, Candie 

 Garden, the Vallon and Woodlands, as places where 

 Wood Pigeons occasionally breed. No doubt the 

 number of Wood Pigeons is occasionally increased 

 by migratory, or rather perhaps wandering, flocks, 

 as Mr. Couch, in a note to the ' Zoologist,' dated 

 October the 21st, 1871, says, " On Tuesday a great 

 number of Wood Pigeons rested and several were 

 shot." Mr. MacCulloch also writes me, " The Wood 

 Pigeon occasionally arrives in large numbers. A 

 few years ago I heard great complaints of the 

 damage they were doing to the peas; " * but luckily 

 for the farmers these wandering flocks do not stay 

 long, or there would be but little peas, beans, or 

 grain left in the Islands ; and the Wood Pigeons 

 would be more destructive to the crops in Guernsey 

 than in England, as there are not many acorns or 

 Beech masts on which they could feed ; consequently 

 they would live almost entirely on the farmer ; and 

 to show the damage they would be capable of doing 

 in this case, I may say that in the crops of two that 

 I examined some time ago not killed in Guernsey 

 however I found, in the first, thirty seven beech- 

 masts in the crop, and eight others in the gizzard, 



* Query, was this done by a migratory flock, as peas 

 would be ripe about June or July, when migratory flocks 

 of Wood Pigeons would not be likely to occur ; or was the 

 damage to newly sown peas in the spring ? 



