FOOD OF THE RING-DOVE, 
269 
of Christian Malford in North Wilts, and in the meadows near 
Paradise Gardens at Oxford, where I have often heard them cry 
crex, crex. The bird mentioned above weighed 7i oz., was fat 
and tender, and in flavour Hke the flesh of a woodcock. The 
liver was very large and delicate * 
FOOD OF THE RING-DOVE. 
One of my neighbours shot a ring-dove on an evening as it 
was returning from feed and going to roost. When his wife had 
picked and drawn it, she found its craw stuffed with the most 
nice and tender tops of turnips. These she washed and boiled, 
and so sat down to a choice and delicate plate of greens, culled 
and provided in this extraordinary manner. 
Hence we may see that graminivorous birds, when grain fails, 
can subsist on the leaves of vegetables. f There is reason to 
suppose that they would not long be healthy without ; for tur- 
keys, though corn fed, delight in a variety of plants, such as 
cabbage, lettuce, endive, &c., and poultry pick much grass ; while 
geese live for months together on commons by grazing alone. 
" Nought is useless made! 
On the barren heath * 
The shepherd tends his flock that daily crop 
Their verdant dinner from the mossy turf 
Sufficient : after them the cackling goose. 
Close-grazer, finds wherewith to ease her want." 
Philip's Cyder. 
* Land-rails are mo^e plentiful with us than in the neighbourhood of Selborne. I have found 
four brace in an afternoon, and a friend of aiine lately shot nine in two adjoining fields ; but 1 
never saw thftn in any other season than the autumn. 
That it is a bird of passage there can be little doubt, though Mr. White thinks it poorly quali- 
fied for migration, on account of the wings being short and not placed in the exact centre of 
gravity : how that may be I cannot say, but 1 know that its heavy sluggish flight is not owing to 
its inability of flying faster, for I have seen it fly very swiftly, although in general its actions 
are sluggish. Its unwillingness to rise proceeds, 1 imagine, from its sluggish disposition, and its 
great timidity, for it will sometimes squat so close to the ground as to suff^er itself to be taken up 
by the hand, rather than rise ; and yet it will at times run very fast. 
What Mr, White remarks respecting the small shell snails found in its gizzard confirms my 
opinion that it frequents corn-fields, seed-clover, and brakes or fern, more for the sake of snails, 
slugs, and other insects which abound in such places, than for the grain or seeds ; and that it is 
entirely an insectivorous bird.* — Markwick. 
* It is also a corn-feeder. — Ed. 
t That many graminivorous birds feed also oji the herbage or leaves of plants there can be 
no doubt : partridges and larks frequently feed on the green leaves of turnips, whicli gives a 
peculiar flavour to their flesh, that is, to me, very palatable : the flavour also of wild ducks and 
geese greatly depends on the nature of their food ; and their flesh frequently contracts a rank 
unpleasant taste, from their having lately fed on strong marshy aquatic plants as I suppose. 
That the leaves of vegetables are wholesome and conducive to the health of birds seems pro- 
bable, for many people fat their ducks and turkeys with the leaves of lettuce chopped small. 
Markwicx. 
