218 BIRDS OF THE WEST OF SCOTLAND. 



Wood Pigeon in Scotland is in the main attributable to the de- 

 struction of all kinds of birds of prey, which, if allowed to exist 

 to a moderate extent, would, it is certain, have kept this agricultural 

 pest within reasonable bounds. The hooded, or carrion crows, for 

 example, would destroy vast quantities of eggs the pigeon's nest 

 being a mere platform of sticks, on which the exposed contents 

 are readily perceived. Partridges and other game birds, on the 

 other hand, do not run the same hazard, as the female bird 

 invariably covers the eggs on leaving her nest. 



Though extremely wild when assembled in flocks in the open 

 fields in autumn and winter, this bird becomes comparatively tame 

 in the breeding season, frequently building its nest in trees near 

 mansion-houses, which at other seasons of the year it never fre- 

 quents. It appears to be easily tamed, but very few instances 

 can be cited of its having bred in captivity. I have several times 

 reared young birds from eggs placed under a common pigeon, and 

 in these instances they maintained a quiet habit, mixing freely 

 and tamely with their domestic neighbours. Only one instance 

 has come under my own observation of the Wood Pigeon breeding 

 in confinement, and that was the case of a female that had been 

 taken in a wood while young, by Mr Alex. Crawford, Cumnock. 

 By kind treatment the bird grew up to be strong and handsome, 

 and having been allowed her liberty, instead of flying back to the 

 woods she betook herself to a neighbouring dovecote, belonging 

 to Mr Hugh Thomson, joiner, in the same town, and mated with 

 one of his bachelor pigeons. The pair had eggs three times, though 

 only one young bird was reared : it was larger than the domestic 

 pigeon, and resembled the female parent in its general markings. 



The favourite breeding place of this species in the West of 

 Scotland is in large fir plantations,* some of which afford abun- 

 dant shelter to Wood Pigeons at all seasons of the year. Viewed 

 from a distance, especially where the eye can rest on the far 

 spreading surface of the green plumed forests adorning some of our 

 larger glens, these solitudes seem impenetrable even to the pigeons, 

 as they flit through the purple mist on a summer's evening, or 

 mount in the air with noisy flap, as their mates sit brooding on 



* I have found it breeding in hedgerows of old hawthorn bounding the fields 

 of the farm of Elmscleugh, in Berwickshire, where I observed about a dozen 

 nests some years ago. Mr Anderson has also taken note of several nests 

 situated in tall whin bushes, near Arbroath. in Forfarshire. 



