22 WILD ANIMALS. 



in this case there is no evidence of the situation they were in 

 when killed, whether on the flight a mile from the grounds 

 of the owner, or mingled with the doves of other persons, en- 

 joying their natural liberty. Without such evidence the act 

 of killing them, though for the purpose of using them as food, 

 is not felonious." ^^ 



There can be little doubt, however, that a civil action would 

 lie in all thes'e cases, as the birds remain property by reason 

 of the animus revertendi which Blackstone considers a charac- 

 teristic of "my pigeons, that are flying at a distance from their 

 home (especially of the carrier kind)." *^ It has been held, 

 accordingly, that the owner of carrier pigeons does not alaan- 

 don his reclamation of them by taking them for purposes of 

 training to a distance from home and letting them fly, and 

 that one who shoots such a pigeon in its flight is liable for its 

 value.^* The Law Times thus criticises this case : "The de- 

 cision seems to involve considerations of even greater import 

 than the "mere protection of pigeons, viz. : the relative rights 

 and liabilities of land-owners and pigeon fanciers. . . . The 

 learned judge found as a fact that the pigeon had animum 

 revertendi and that the fancier had done no act to determine 

 the reclamation. And here, we think, a somewhat danger- 

 ous principle is admitted. A pigeon is prima facie ferce 

 natures till reclaimed. The period within which the reclama- 

 tion continues is evidenced by certain acts on the part of the 

 proprietor, confinement in a dove-cote, with liberty to fly 

 within a reasonable distance therefrom, being the chief. The 

 rights of the neighboring — or, as it may be, as in this case, the 

 distant — owners of land are equally well ascertained. Ciijiis 

 est solum, ejus est usque ad caelum; and ferce naturae being no 

 man's property and coming on to land of another may be re- 

 duced into possession by shooting or otherwise. The whole 

 question depends therefore on the legal construction to be 



*' Com. V. Chace, 9 Pick. (Mass.) 15. '' 2 Bl. Com. 392. 

 "* County court case reported in 71 L. T. 65. See the opinion in this 

 case for a review of the authorities. 



