150 TEN YEARS OF GAME-KEEPING 
taste of its wheat mingled with lead; and if you can 
manage to get first innings at the first wheat-field to 
which pigeons take a fancy, you may obtain sport 
which neither yourself nor the pigeons will forget 
for some time. So it is well, towards the middle of 
July, to keep a look-out ; but do not disturb the first 
few pigeons that visita field: wait till they come in 
streams. Sometimes pigeons are so keen on the 
milky wheat (which they guzzle, husk and all) that 
plenty of shooting may be had at any time during 
daylight ; and it is well worth while, more especially 
when having a first go at them, to be on the spot 
from daylight to dusk. I have found, however, that 
the favourite time for pigeons to feed in summer is 
the hour on each side of six in the evening. They. 
come then in smaller bunches, with greater fre- 
quency, and straighter and lower, than during any 
other part of the day. Then, too, there is apt to be 
a strong breeze, which, if it happens to be against 
the pigeons as they steer for their supper, will help 
the bag by keeping them low. 
I have had many an hour after tea in the summer 
at supper-seeking pigeons, returning with as big a 
bag as I could conveniently carry. I never had 
time to put in a whole day, or I am sure that on 
several occasions I could have got over a hundred 
birds to my own gun, without using decoys of any 
sort. It is advisable always to take some sort of 
fly-proof receptacle for the dead birds, as otherwise 
