144 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



quarter. The movement, although it does not seem to have been 

 general, was also notified at other places on the coast, viz. at 

 Stiffkey, Cley, Northrepps, and Overstrand ; at the last-named 

 some Pigeons being seen while they were flying over the 

 sea.* 



5th. — The Food of Rooks and Wood- Pig eons. My bailiff has 

 again dressed his wheat with "corvusine" (see "Report," 1911), 

 and I hope it has protected it from Wood-Pigeons and Rooks, 

 for wheat at thirty shillings a comb is worth taking care of. 

 Steeping the grain in brine is held of no use, and some farmers 

 still have an objection to " corvusine," which in any case is not 

 often employed for barley or oats. The Rook is in little better 

 favour than the Wood-Pigeon. Mr. B. B. Sapwell, who generally 

 speaks on behalf of the farmers, writes :— " Rooks do much harm 

 to swedes during the winter ; they search the rings for any 

 partially exposed roots, and with their powerful beaks peck great 

 holes in them ; rain water settles in these holes and rots the 

 roots, and the frost gets hold of these exposed places." It has 

 been truly said that the Rook does an immense amount of harm, 

 but some amount of good, which must not be forgotten. What- 

 ever redeeming qualities there may be in the Rook and the 

 Starling, there are no two opinions as to the destructive 

 character of the Wood-Pigeon. In January the Wood -Pigeon is 

 generally content with acorns, but it is almost the only month 

 in the year in which some crime cannot be laid to its charge. 

 In February they pick out the heads of the red clover, which is 

 coming for hay on the new leys, while in March their presence 

 on the newly sown barley is much too frequent to be acceptable. 

 They are not accused, however, of picking out the grain like 

 Rooks, but are considered to content themselves, as a rule, with 

 what the drill scatters upon the surface. In July they are very 

 fond of oats, besides attacking the young swede crop, which is 

 soon ruined, while in September ripe elderberries are to their 

 taste, and, later, beech-nuts become the favourite food. Of 

 acorns I have often found so many and of such a size as to be 



* It may have reached greater proportions in Yorkshire, where I learn 

 from Mr. W. H. St. Quintin, a hundred and thirty-seven were secured by 

 two guns on December 26th. No such bag as that was made in East 

 Norfolk. 



