COLUMBID^. 297 



puts one in mind of Falstaff s incredible amount of 

 sack to the one poor pennyworth of bread, the two 

 Wood Pigeons had not really done the farmer so 

 much harm as may be supposed : his crop of barley 

 having by that time been gathered in, they had only 

 gleaned up the wasted and shelled out grains, or 

 what they could pick up round ricks ; at that time of 

 year, too, the farmer might have revenged and paid 

 himself by shooting and eating the Wood Pigeons, 

 and he would have found them quite as good eating 

 as any Partridge. In the crop of a Wood Pigeon shot 

 by myself in a wheat-field in August were one hun- 

 dred and forty-six grains of wheat ; the gizzard was 

 also crammed with wheat. 



The nest of the Wood Pigeon is generally placed 

 in a high bush or shrub, or in a moderately low 

 tree, or in thick ivy by the side of a tree ; indeed 

 some sort of evergreen is generally chosen for the 

 earlier nests, such as a holly or highish laurel. The 

 nest itself is a very slight structure of sticks, so 

 loosely put together that the eggs and the young 

 birds may be seen through it. Yarrell says they 

 have sometimes as many as three broods in the 

 year : I should think, however, he might have said 

 four, as they are rather early nesters, and go on 

 laying until late in the autumn. I have frequently 

 myself found their nests, with young birds in them 

 not fully Hedged, when out shooting in October, as 

 late indeed as the 18th of that month ; and an 



