than a few days. In the severe weather of 1870-71 

 we had more Wood-Pigeons in our oak-woods than I 

 ever saw anywhere before or since, but a neighbouring 

 gamekeeper, who had frequently assisted in our pursuit 

 of them at that time, sent me word, about the middle of 

 December 1893, that the number of Wood-Pigeons 

 that frequented these same woods was " as five to one 

 of those that were there at the French war-time." This 

 implied many hundreds of thousands, and from the 

 evidence of many trustworthy witnesses was by no 

 means an unwarrantable computation. I have known of 

 a Wood-Pigeon sitting on her eggs in the second week 

 of March, and have often found freshly laid eggs in 

 October. I believe that three broods are the rule, but 

 I feel little doubt that four are frequently reared during 

 the season. In covert-shooting in November I have 

 often seen young Pigeons that could only just fly from 

 one tree to another. A pair of Wood-Pigeons reared 

 three young in one season in the aviary at Lilford, one 

 bird from each separate sitting of two eggs. I have ex- 

 amined the contents of the " crops " of the Wood-Pigeon 

 in every month of the year, and from my investigations 

 have come to the conclusion that the lesser celandine is 

 about the only " weed " that they consume in any 

 considerable quantity. How far this particular taste 

 may be beneficial to the agriculturist I cannot say, but 

 there is no doubt that these Pigeons consume an 

 enormous amount of corn of all sorts, besides a quantity 

 of " green stuffs," and are, on the whole, detrimental to 

 the farmer. The voracity and stowage capacity of the 

 Wood-Pigeon are marvellous : I know of an instance 



