in which 72 full-sized acorns were taken from the crop 
of one of this species, and I have myself taken 87 horse- 
beans and some fragments of turnip-tops from another. 
My views about this bird are that it should be strictly 
protected between March and August, but shot down 
to the utmost during the rest of the year. No better 
sport can be found in England than shooting Wood- 
Pigeons in a breeze of wind, as they career over a small 
opening in a wood or thick plantation, and their flesh, 
if properly treated, is, in my opinion, excellent. 
