2o6 British Birds with their Nests and Eggs. 



Family— COL UMBID^. 



The Wood-PigeoNo 



Columba palumbus, LiNN. 



THE Wood- Pigeon, in consequence of a patch of wliite featliers on the side 

 of its neck, lias received the inaccurate and absurd name of the Ring-Dove, 

 which causes it to be confounded with other species. It is a common resident 

 throughout Great Britain and Ireland, breeding generally throughout the country, 

 and having its numbers enormously increased, in the autumn, by migration from 

 the Continent. This bird, which is also called the Cushat, or Cushie Doo, is the 

 largest and best known species in Great Britain. It breeds early in April, usually 

 selecting tall trees, particularly those of the fir tribe. The eggs ar*^. always two 

 in number, and both birds incubate. The food of the Wood-Pigeon is entirely 

 vegetable. When present in large numbers it is one of the most destructive birds 

 to the farmer, devouring large quantities of cereal grain and leaves, especially 

 those of clover and turnip. The capacity of the Wood-Pigeon for food may be 

 regarded as almost unlimited. In default of grain or clover it eats beech masts 

 and acorns. The late Mr. Cecil Smith took seventy-seven beech masts out of the 

 crop of one specimen. Another authority found two-hundred- and-seventy- two, and 

 from a third specimen Mr. Joseph Sadler extracted over one-thousand grains of 

 com. The valuable investigations into the food of these birds what have been 

 undertaken by the Agricultural Society of Scotland, prove that their food almost 

 exclusively consists of the leaves and seeds of agricultural crops. 



The late Lord Lilford, one of the most practical of all English naturalists, 

 writing of this species, says : "I have examined 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 agriculturalist I cannot say, but there is no doubt that these Pigeons consume 

 an enormous amount of com of all sorts, besides a quantity of ' green stuflFs,' and 

 are on the whole detrimental to the farmer. The voracity and stowage capacity 

 of the Wood- Pigeon are marvellous. I know of an instance in which seventy-two 

 full-sized acorns were taken from the crop of one of these species, and I have 



