THE BIRDS OF BRECONSHIRE. 137 



came circling by; a minute more and I heard its curious jarring 

 cry, and forgot everything else in watching with a delight that 

 comes back to me, even now, the beautiful and fairy-like flight of 

 the Nigbtjar. 



Wood Pigeon, Columba palumbus.—Very plentiful, but the 

 large flocks one constantly meets with in the winter must be 

 visitors from other counties, probably Herefordshire, where it 

 breeds in great numbers. I think this bird is certainly on the 

 increase here during the last few years, both as regards residents 

 as well as visitors. 



Stock Dove, Columba anas.— Certainly rare with us; I have 

 never killed but one, and that was when waiting to shoot Wood 

 Pigeons as they came in to roost in a wood on the confines of the 

 county. I recognised it by its smaller size, and, on killing it, 

 found it to be a veritable Columba anas. The keeper with me said 

 there was a pair of them, but that they were very uncommon ; 

 it is, however, common in the adjoining county of Hereford. 



Rock Dove, Columba livia. — In many places fairly plentiful. 

 Mr. Crawshay has killed two in a stone-quarry near Cyfarthfa, 

 just over, if not actually in, the county, and in the curious 

 Aberedw Rocks, on the Wye, they breed in tolerable numbers. 

 These rocks crop up in various turretted shapes on the Brecon- 

 shire and Radnorshire sides of the river, more especially on the 

 latter, and the Rock Doves constantly cross to and fro with arrow- 

 like flight; they feed in the daytime on the various corn and 

 stubble fields near, but are, of all the Columbida, the most difficult 

 of approach and the most difficult to shoot. Indeed, the quantity 

 of shot this bird will carry away almost surpasses belief. 



Turtle Dove, Turtur auritus. — A summer visitant, but in 

 spare numbers. The only place in the county where I usually 

 notice it with any certainty is on the large flat tract of land 

 between Three Cocks and Boughrood part of the Dderw Farm, 

 the property of Lord Tredegar. 



Pheasant, Phasianus colcliicus. — I cannot say when the 

 Pheasant was introduced into Wales, but probably it soon spread 

 from the large woods of Herefordshire until it established itself 

 in the Great Forest of Brecon. It seems to do very well here 

 bearing severe cold with impunity. The largest Pheasant I have 

 ever seen was a cock of the old-fashioned colcliicus type, killed in 

 1879 in Lord Hereford's preserves at Tregoyd, by my friend the 



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