CHAP. x¥v.] WOOD-PIGEONS. us 
seeds of two of the worst weeds in the country, the wild mustard 
and the ragweed, which they had found remaining on the surface 
of the ground, these plauts ripening and dropping their seeds 
before the corn is cut. Now no amount of human labour and 
search could have collected on the same ground, at that time of 
the year, as much of these seeds as was consumed by each of 
these five or six hundred wood-pigeons daily, for two or three 
weeks together. Indeed, during the whole of the summer and 
spring, and a considerable part of the winter, all pigeons must 
feed entirely on the seeds of different wild plants, as no grain is 
to be obtained by these soft-billed birds excepting immediately 
after the sowing-time, and when the corn is nearly ripe, or for a 
short time after it is cut. Certainly I can enter into the feelings 
of a farmer who sees a flock of hundreds of these birds alighting 
on a field of standing wheat or devouring the newly-sown oats. 
Seeing them so employed must for the moment make him forget 
the utility they are of at other times. For my own part I never 
shoot at a wood-pigeon near my house, nor do I ever kill one 
without a feeling of regret, so much do I like to hear their note 
in the spring and summer mornings. The first decisive symptom 
of the approach of spring and fine weather is the cooing of the 
wood-pigeon. Where not molested, they are very fond of build- 
ing their nest in the immediate vicinity of a house. Shy as they 
are at all other times of the year, no bird sits closer on her eggs 
or breeds nearer to the abode of man than the wood-pigeon. 
There are always several nests close to my windows, and fre- 
quently immediately over some walk, where the birds sit in con- 
scious security, within five or six feet of the passer-by ; and there 
are generally a pair or two that feed with the chickens, knowing 
the call of the woman who takes care of the poultry as well as 
the tame birds do. 
I have frequently attempted to tame young wood-pigeons, 
taking them at a very early age from the nest. They generally 
become tolerably familiar till the first moult ; but as soon as 
they acquire strength of plumage and wing, they have invariably 
left me, except in one instance which occurred two years ago. 
I put some wood-pigeon’s eggs under a tame pigeon of my chil- 
dren’s, taking away the eggs on which she was sitting at the 
time. Only one of the young birds grew up, and it became 
