THE BIRDS OF WAKEFIELD: 



With pa?'ticula7's of the occasional visits of Rare Sj)ecies^ and of those 

 that have been ohserved to breed in the neighbourhood. 



From 1845 to the present time. 

 BY WILLIAM TALBOT. 



(continued from page 151.) 



CAPRIMULGID^. 

 Night Jar (Caprimulgus Europoeus) — 



Breeds at Ardsley, Newland, and Woodmoor : but owing to its 

 nocturnal habits it is seldom seen by casual observers ; the 

 entomologist occasionally meets with it wl:ien out at nights 

 sugaring. The date of its arrival is very difficult to fix with 

 accuracy : the earliest time I have noted it is the 24th of May, 

 but I am convinced that it reaches us before that date. 



COLUMBIDiE. 

 EiNG Dove {Golumha palumhus) — 



In spring time the cooing of the ring dove resounds through 

 every wood in the district ; occasionally one meets with its nest, 

 if such a rude collection of twigs and roots of grass can be called 

 a nest ; the wonder is how such a shapeless structure can 

 retain the eggs during a breeze. 



Stock Dove {Golumha cenas) — 



Breeds at Wadsley Cragg, Hems worth, Cawthorne Park, and 

 Kirklees, but only sparingly. The birds and eggs in my 

 collection came from the last place. 



PHASIANID^. 



Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) — 



The artificial system of breeding now generally adopted has been 

 the means of largely increasing the number of pheasants ; in 

 confinement the hen lays at least double the quantity of eggs 

 that she does in a wild state. One of these nurseries that I 

 visited contained upwards of five hundred young pheasants ; I 

 have observed on several occasions, when I have had the privilege 

 of watching these birds in confinement, that they provide no nest 

 whatever, but simply drop the eggs on the bare ground. In 

 many districts it is very difficult to obtain a pure-bred English 



