WOOD-PIGEONS AND WILD-FOWL 159 



cannot swallow, owing to the state of their throats. 

 It does not seem unreasonable to suggest that the 

 disease may originate from the pigeons' feeding on 

 acorns above which they may have roosted. In 

 any case, the fact remains that the disease comes 

 and goes with the time of year during which acorns 

 may be found lying on the ground. Of one thing 

 I am certain that however badly pigeons may 

 suffer from their diphtheria, it does not affect 

 pheasants, which also feed on acorns. It is reason- 

 able also to assume that human beings are not 

 liable to be infected with it by ordinary means ; 

 for hundreds of men have examined a diseased 

 pigeon's mouth with their fingers, and have handled 

 their handkerchief without harm directly afterwards. 

 And hundreds of pigeons, their throats clogged with 

 the cheesy-looking product of the disease, have 

 been handled, cooked, and eaten. Yet there is no 

 record of a case in which it has been suggested even 

 that a human being has been infected by a diphtheritic 

 pigeon. 



Shooting pigeons as they fly in to roost is fine 

 sport while it lasts. There is a brief period, just 

 as the light of day yields to the dusk of night, when 

 one may stand in an open spot and shoot at pigeons 

 coming to a tree on which they have set their 

 minds, and they will return to it again and again, 

 faster than one can load. One of the best innings 

 I ever had at roosting pigeons came about quite 



