210 BIRD LIFE THROUGHOUT THE YEAR 



in Epping Forest, parts of Hertfordshire and in 

 fact as near London as Hampstead and Highgate. 

 In all this district the hawfinch is an abundant 

 though, on account of its shyness, not a familiar 

 bird. 



Even two such nearly-allied species as the Ring 

 Dove and the Stock Dove are far from being identical 

 in their tastes. W$ had the opportunity of noting that 

 the parties of pigeons which came daily to the borders 

 of a Midland reservoir to feed on the seeds of water- 

 plants consisted solely of stock-doves, and those who 

 have waited with a gun for pigeons to come in to a 

 plantation to roost report that the stock-doves, coming 

 from their own particular foraging expeditions, arrive 

 separately from the ring-doves. The Turtle Dove 

 clears off a great number of seeds of weeds, such as 

 those of the corn-spurrey,from the fallows and stubbles, 

 and when the Sand Grouse, those rare wanderers from 

 the steppes of the Caspian, visited us in 1888 they 

 showed the same taste. 



The tits, a highly versatile family, are all but om- 

 nivorous. The Blue Tit will peck the " eye," the softer 

 part at the more pointed end, out of the grains of Indian 

 corn, while we have frequently seen the Marsh Tit at 

 the sunflower seeds. The Great Tit has a liking for 

 the neighbourhood of the kennels where the game- 

 keeper has hung up meat for his dogs, and a dark 

 whisper attaches to it the stigma of cannabalism. 



