PIGEONS. 187 



furnished. But such sport should not be disguised under a 

 thin veneer of virtue. We shoot the wood doves because 

 they are toothsome; they are of no more harm in the aggre- 

 gate to the farmer, I confidently believe, than "the tame 

 villatic fowl " and not so much, if the enemies of poultry 

 are to be believed. 



In winter time there is hardly a bird in the country side 

 which makes its presence more felt than this watchful and 

 suspicious admirer of pea stubbles. Pheasants have been 

 decimated, the partridges scattered, and coverts beaten as 

 much as they will be each year, yet the wood pigeons are as 

 numerous as ever. Gamekeepers have an inveterate grudge 

 against them, and farmers, at least of the old unreasoning 

 school, attribute numberless enormities to them. For them 

 to suppose they will fly over a ripe pea-field and not perform 

 a couple of turns round and then descend to take toll of 

 the tempting pulse, is to expect too much, as I have said. 

 But peas are ripe before pigeons congregate, and a pint or 

 two pillaged by them counts but little in comparison with 

 the pecks of the seed of gaudy but villainous charlock, and 

 of flaunting poppy grains they make away with. That they 

 enjoy turnip-tops in hard weather there is no denying; 

 but those holes pecked into the roots themselves, which let 

 in frost and do much damage, are not done by the quists. 

 Therefore, against the agriculturist's condemnation of these 

 dwellers amongst the beech trees, we put forward the familiar 

 Hibernian plea that "the culprits are innocent, and moreover 

 have extenuating circumstances in their favour ! " 



An examination of a few birds' crops would always 

 restore them to rustic favour, and Master Tommy or Harry, 

 fresh from school, will undertake the obtaining of the birds 

 with delight. Indeed, waiting as they come to roost in their 

 favourite ivy-covered firs as mentioned, is an amusement 

 not without its pleasures for those who shun the " pomp and 

 circumstance " of modern sport. There are the long vistas 

 of the pine stems glowing red in the last rays of the winter 



