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Mr. J. H. Gurney,



The Food of Books and Wood-Pigeons . — My bailiff has again

dressed his wheat with “ corvusine ” (see ‘ Report,’ 1911), and I hope

it has protected it from Wood-Pigeons and Rooks, for wheat at

thirty shillings a comb is worth taking care of. Steeping the grain

in brine is held of no use, and some farmers still have an objection to

“ corvusine,” which, in any case, is not often employed for barley or

oats. The Rook is in little better favour than the Wood-Pigeon.

Mr. B. B. Sapwell, who generally speaks on behalf of the farmers,

writes: “Rooks do much harm to swedes during the winter : they

search the rings for any partially exposed roots, and with their

powerful beaks peck great holes in them ; rain-water settles in these

holes and rots the roots, and the frost gets hold of these exposed

places.” It has been truly said that the Rook does an immense

amount of harm, but some amount of good, which must not be for¬

gotten. Whatever redeeming qualities there may be in the Rook

and the Starling, there are no two opinions as to the destructive

character of the Wood-Pigeon. In January the Wood-Pigeon is

generally content with acorns, but it is almost the only month in the

year in which some crime cannot be laid to its charge. In February

they pick out the heads of the red clover, which is coming for hay on

the new leys, while in March their presence on the newly-sown barley

is much too frequent to be acceptable. They are not accused, how¬

ever, of picking out the grain like Rooks, but are considered to con¬

tent themselves, as a rule, with what the drill scatters upon the

surface. In July they are very fond of oats, besides attacking the

young swede crop, which is soon ruined, while in September ripe

elderberries are to their taste, and, later, beech-nuts become the

favourite food. Of acorns I have often found so many and of such a

size as to be astonished that their crops did not burst with them.

The rapidity with which they can digest such hard food is equally

incredible, and it is a saying that a Wood-Pigeon will eat its own

weight in a day ! As far as the eastern counties are concerned, any

increase in this species is not so much due to the killing down of

birds of prey as to the great amount of land which is planted with

green crops, which are greatly to their liking.


As a set-off to the destructiveness of the Sparrow and the

Wood-Pigeon— and, I am afraid, we must add the Rook—the



