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PIGEON-COTS AND 



our farmers have other enemies to deal with during 

 the day. 



These are the trading barges upon inland canals. 

 The master of these boats never fails to have a gun 

 on board. With this he commits great havoc, by 

 killing and wounding our pigeons whilst they are 

 feeding in the fields adjacent to the canal. Some 

 fall dead, and others, wounded by the discharge, 

 barely reach the cot, where they linger for a while, 

 and then expire, often leaving young ones in the 

 holes above them, to perish for w r ant of their daily 

 food. 



Some years ago, near a farm at the Oakenshaw- 

 station, near Wakefield a case occurred of which I 

 was an eye-witness. 



The farmer had just finished his barley-sowing, 

 in a field bordering on the Barnsley canal. A 

 flock of pigeons was picking up the grains which 

 had not got covered by the harrow. A boat was 

 coming slowly up ; and as I expected mischief, I 

 quietly placed myself under a hedge, to see what 

 might take place. A gun was discharged from the 

 barge at the feeding pigeons. Some fell, and 

 others returned to the dove-cot, which has since 

 been abandoned. I called upon the farmer; and 

 having told him what I had just seen, I said, that 

 I was ready to appear against the owner of the 



