WILD PIGEON. 89 



the letters being defaced by damp, the legs of the 

 Pigeons were first bathed in vinegar, with a view to 

 keep them cool, so that they might not settle to drink, 

 or wash themselves on the way, which in that hot 

 climate they were often doing. 



Of late years, the number of wild Pigeons in 

 England, is, like the Swallows and Starlings, evi- 

 dently diminishing, and it is rare to see a flock of 

 any magnitude; but formerly they were very abun- 

 dant, as we may learn, not only from incidental 

 remarks in ancient writers, but from allusions to the 

 particular manner of catching them. Thus we find the 

 prophet Isaiah speaking of them, "flying as a cloud:" 

 and constant allusions are made to their prodigious 

 numbers. Indeed, had they not been for more 

 numerous than they are at present, it would not 

 have been worth while to have adopted the expensive 

 mode of catching them, which we believe is at pre- 

 sent entirely given up, though till within a few years 

 it was practised near Cava, on the Gulf of Sorento, in 

 Italy, where, upon the tops of some bushy hills, were 

 erected small circular towers ; on each of these, 

 towards the latter end of September, a man posted 

 himself, and as soon as a flight of Pigeons passed on 

 their way through the valley, he flung a flat stone 

 over them, which, by its form or manner of throwing, 

 made a sort of whistling noise, which frightened the 

 birds, and hastened their flight towards a place of 

 refuge. Another was thrown from each tower as 

 they passed, until the affrighted flock was thus driven 

 to the last turret in the valley, where a large net was 

 spread in the hollows amongst the bushes, in which 

 the birds were taken. Great art was requisite in 



