WOOD PIGEON. 
61 
wantonly destroyed. The love note or cooing is one 
of those harbingers of a change from the severity 
of winter, that is looked for and listened to by the 
resident in the country with feelings of delight ; 
and previous to the arrival of the summer birds of 
passage, bears a marked part in the melody of 
our woods and groves. Mr. Yarrell gives the 
southern parts of Russia and Siberia, and during 
summer Denmark and Sweden, as their northern 
range, and states that it is found in the latitude 
of Madeira ; in the notes to a small collection of 
birds given to us by W. T. Carruthers, Esq., of 
Dormont, the common Wood Pigeon is stated to 
have been seen in that island.* 
The Wood Pigeon, in winter, when not tamed 
by its severity, is a remarkably shy and watchful 
bird, and being then assembled in flocks, often 
amounting to hundreds, is very difficult to be 
approached. As spring advances, and pairing 
has commenced, this wariness is in part lost, 
and young plantations, the shrubbery, and even 
the garden, if possessing some large evergreens, 
are favourite resorts. There they become fami- 
liarised with the presence of company, and will 
proceed unheedingly with the slender structure 
of their nests, and other duties of incubation. 
A few years since, one built upon an evergreen 
overhanging a walk, scarcely a yard above the 
heads of persons passing ; there was a constant 
thoroughfare, the bird was hourly looked at, and 
* See Edin. Journal of Nat. and Gcog. Science, i. p. 244. 
