a3 
than a few days. In the “severe weather of 1870-71 
we had more Wood-Pigeons in our oak-woods than I 
ever saw anywhere before or since, but a neighbouring 
gamekeeper, who had frequently assisted in our pursuit 
of them at that time, sent me word, about the middle of 
December 1893, that the number of Wood-Pigeons 
that frequented these same woods was “as five to one 
of those that were there at the French war-time.” This 
implied many hundreds of thousands, and from the 
evidence of many trustworthy witnesses was by no 
means an unwarrantable computation. I have known of 
a Wood-Pigeon sitting on her eggs in the second week 
of March, and have often found freshly laid eggs in 
October. I believe that three broods are the rule, but 
I feel little doubt that four are frequently reared during 
the season. In covert-shooting in November I have 
often seen young Pigeons that could only just fly from 
one tree to another. A pair of Wood-Pigeons reared 
three young in one season in the aviary at Lilford, one 
bird from each separate sitting of two eggs. I have ex- 
amined the contents of the ‘ crops” of the Wood-Pigeon 
in every month of the year, and from my investigations 
have come to the conclusion that the lesser celandine is 
about the only “weed” that they consume in any 
considerable quantity. How far this particular taste 
may be beneficial to the agriculturist I cannot say, but 
there is no doubt that these Pigeons consume an 
enormous amount of corn of all sorts, besides a quantity 
of “‘ green stuffs,” and are, on the whole, detrimental to 
the farmer. The voracity and stowage capacity of the 
Wood-Pigeon are marvellous: I know cf an instance 
