134 



THE NATURALIST. 



I will not say the 1st ! -—the poor bird picked up the grains which it 

 found lying on the surface, useless to any one, probably after broadcast 

 sowing, for if drilled or dibbled it would have been safe from any such depre- 

 dation, so to call it, even if pigeons were able to commit it, which they are not; 

 and in the other case the depredation would have been no depredation at all. 



I do hope you will allow me a place for this plea for the Dove, of 

 all birds, the emblem of innocence ; the type of conjugal affection and 

 constancy; the symbol of peace from the very age of the ark; the repre- 

 , sentative to the whole Christian world of the Holy Spirit ; the bird whose 

 " gentle cooing in our woods in the spring and early summer is the very 

 most pleasing and soothing of the Thousand and One delightful sounds that 

 i^ature affords to those who can appreciate and value them." 



P.S. I never have denied that birds do damage in fields and gardens — 

 I further allow, and always have allowed, that when in consequence of this, 

 or from any other cause, any kinds of birds consume to an undue extent, 

 they should be kept down, and if only fair means be used and the birds be 

 shot and not destroyed wholesale with poisoned grain, I have no fear for 

 the annihilation of the race of woodpigeons ; they are far too wary birds for 

 this ; and this, by the way, makes it comparatively easy to frighten them 

 off from the fields when they are doing injury. Let them be fairly kept 

 within due bounds, but as to anything beyond this, I can more than 

 match all that Mr. Skirving has said as to their extraordinary numbers 

 in Scotland, and the consequent mischief they may occasionally have 

 done, by facts which are as curious and interesting as they are undoubted. 

 Mr. Skirving refers to an extract from my History of British Birds." — 

 May I ask attention to the following facts in the accounts of two birds 

 only. The Red- winged Starling and the Sparrow. — True, the former is 

 only a rare British bird, but the habits of our own common Starling are 

 precisely similar in every respect, and the statements as to the former made 

 on such high authority shew what inconceivable numbers of insects must be 

 destroyed by this. If the Times correspondent, Mr. Skirving, had referred to 

 the work of his countryman Macgillivray on "British Birds," the best 

 work ever published on the subject, he would T believe, have seen it there 

 stated, for I have not the book at present by me, that the vast flights of 

 Woodpigeons which are seen in the winter in Scotland, are not denizens of 

 this country, but have come over from the N'orth of Europe, to which they - 

 return in the Spring. 



