406 BRITISH BIRDS. 



They differ again from fowls in drinking : the fowl takes short 

 draughts, holding up its head between each sip ; the pigeon 

 takes one long bibition, its beak immersed in the water the 

 whole time. Pigeons feed exclusively on vegetable food. In 

 the genus (Juluiiilia the base of the upper mandible is covered 

 with a soft skin in which the nostrils are pierced, and the 

 twelve tail-feathers are nearly even. In Turtur there are two 

 tumid soft substances at the base of the upper mandible 

 covering the nostrils. 



The Wooil-piijeon ((J. jialuiiihii-<) does much damage. It is 

 also known as the ring-dove and the queest. Its recent in- 

 crease is due partly to the killing off of all the large birds of 

 prey and to the increase of coverts. It is most abundant on 

 our eastern coasts, where large numbers arrive from the Con- 

 tinent. They commence to breed in April ; a second nest is 

 formed in June, and a third even in October. The nests are 

 placed in all manner of places — on high trees, in ivy, and on 

 low bushes. Incubation lasts eighteen days, and the young are 

 blind until the ninth day. The male sits all day, the female of 

 a night. They unite in large flocks after the breeding season 

 is over. In spring and summer they are seen in pairs : at this 

 time they feed on the young leaves of peas, beans, and corn ; 

 and turnips when young are also greedily devoured. Often 

 whole fields of peas are spoilt by them. In winter the}- go to 

 the woods in flocks and feed on beech-nuts, acorns, &c. ; even 

 then they do not neglect foraging expeditions to the fields, 

 where cabbage and rape suffer from their incursions. It is not 

 so much those wood-pigeons that breed with us that do the 

 damage, as the large flocks that come from abroad in the winter 

 and leave us again in the spring. These foreigners can be told 

 from our natives by their smaller size. We must not forget, 

 however, that they eat numbers of weed-seeds, and so do some 

 little good in return for the harm they occasion, but they are 

 far too abundant. 



