94 
NATURE NOTES. 
least a century, the exact facsimile of its present surroundings in the cliff which 
Mr. Hart knows so well, and has so tenderly watched for many years. And so I 
might go on but for space. I would fain take all nature-lovers to see thi.s collec- 
tion, and if possible to hear the thrilling tales of bird life learned in Mr. Hart’s 
own experience. The next best thing to this is to have lantern slides of them. 
Bournemoitth. M. E. Cowl. 
[The beautiful cases of birds similarly treated in the Natural History Museum 
would serve admirably for reproduction on slides. We hope our correspondent 
will not fail to pay these a visit when she is next in town. — E d. 
A Plea for the Hare. — The agitation about the Royal buckhounds and 
the hunted hind still seems, from paragraphs which appear in the press from time 
to time, to hold its ground. There exists, however, a far worse form of cruelty, 
which, so far as I know, is ailowed to pass unnoticed. I allude to the hunting of 
hares late in the season. That this w rong is wrought solely and entirely by want of 
thoughtis not questioned for a moment. Thcpack of beagles which hunts the country 
lying in the neighbourhood of Eton belongs to a community who are true gentle- 
men all round. Were they convinced of the unfairness of their action, it is certain 
that they would be the last to practise it. Still, year after year, the cruelty goes 
on, unheeded and unchecked. For the poor hunted hare there is neither pity nor 
closure ; and up to the latest days in Itlarch, when the hare is breeding and often 
is almost too heavy to run, she still is hunted. This very season, the last time the 
beagles were out in the tields of the Dorney and Rurnham Liberties happened 
indeed to be the day after the Easter holidays had commenced. It is, therefore, 
most likely that the master of the pack, being absent, knew nothing about it. 
Hares are fond of wallflowers, and sometimes they feed too freely upon them 
when they run into tlie garden from the open fields. But we do not grudge them : 
and to discover a hare couched snugly in the orchard grass on a sunny March 
morning is always a delight, since it gives a.ssurance to the hope that our territory 
is often as a city of refuge to the scared and panting creatures. 
March Hare. 
Domestication of Wood Pigeons (p. 38). — I was much interested in 
lilr. J. Young’s letter, but the writer confounds “ domesticating ” with “ taming.” 
By constant care and attention he tamed his young wood pigeons, but they were 
as far as ever from being domesticated. As in a similar case recorded by Yarrell, 
the eggs laid were unproductive, but, had they been fertile, unless subjected to the 
same treatment as their parents, the young would undoubtedly, when the breeding 
time arrived, have flown away, seeking “ fresh woods and pastures new,” never 
to return. So, if confined and continuing to breed, would their children and 
their children’s children to any generation. A wild bird may be tamed, but he 
never can be domesticated. 
•Should Mr. Young, however, again bring up young wood pigeons from the 
nest, I venture to ofler him a hint. He says that in feeding them he “ forced 
boiled peas down their throats.” In so doing he must have forced their deli- 
cate beaks asunder, for I am certain that they would never have voluntarily opened 
them, and I wonder that he did not dislocate the jaw or break the soft beak 
in so doing. Now the pigeon feeds its young in a manner the exact opposite 
to that of any other bird. Yarrell says: “The parent birds insert their own 
beak between the mandibles of the young bird, thus feeding them with a pulpy 
mass already half-digested.” This is entirely wrong. The youn" birds insert 
their mandibles into those of the old ones, forcing their heads half down the 
mother's throat, and frequently making the edges bleed in their frantic efforts to 
get at their food. Fifty years ago I pointed this out to Yarrell, but though a 
wonderful compiler he was not much of a naturalist, and as he could not find the 
fact recorded in any book he simply ignored it, and I daresay the error has been 
repeated in after editions of his really valuable work. Other difterences are these : 
(l) The pigeon has no gall-bladder ; (2) it drinks, not like birds in general, lifting 
up their heads to let the water trickle down, but as the beasts do, by suction. Its 
mode of feeding its young I have mentioned. The droppings, again, are void of 
oft'ence, and are used, practically, as lining for the slight fabric that dees duty for 
a nest, rendering it warm and solid when the young are hatched. Other dif- 
ferences there are, but to class the bird amongst the Rasores, as Yarrell does. 
