280 
WILD PIGEON. 
however, not always enclosed in gold, but merely in paper ; 
in which case, to prevent the letters being defaced by damp, 
the legs of the Pigeons were first bathed in vinegar, with a 
view to keep them cool, so that they might not settle to drink, 
or wash themselves on the way, which in that hot climate 
they were often doing. 
Of late years, the number of Wild Pigeons in England is, 
like the Swallows and Starlings, evidently diminishing, and 
it is rare to see a flock of any magnitude ; but formerly they 
were very abundant, as we may learn, not only from incidental 
remarks in ancient writers, hut from allusions to the par- 
ticular manner of catching them. Thus we find the prophet 
Isaiah speaking of them, “ flying as a cloud and constant 
allusions are made to their prodigious numbers. Indeed, 
had they not been far more numerous than they are at 
present, it would not have been worth while to have adopted 
the expensive mode of catching them, which we believe is at 
present entirely given up, though till within a few years it 
was practised near Cava, on the Gulf of Sorento, in Italy, 
where, upon the tops of some bushy hills, were erected 
small circular towers : on each of these, towards the latter 
end of September, a man posted himself, and as soon as 
a flight of Pigeons passed on their way through the valley, 
he flung a flat stone over them, which by its form or manner 
of throwing, made a sort of whistling noise, which frightened 
the birds, and hastened their flight towards a place of refuge. 
Another was thrown from each tower as they passed, until 
the affrighted flock was thus driven to the last turret in the 
valley, where a large net was spread in the hollows amongst 
the bushes, in which the birds were taken. Great art was 
requisite in throwing the stone, as upon this the success of 
the diversion depended. 
At a small village called Gerde, about a league from Bag- 
nere de Bigorres, in the Pyrenees, a mode somewhat similar 
is adopted from the middle of September to the middle of 
November, which attracts the notice, and is resorted to as a 
favourite amusement, by those who visit that beautiful coun- 
try. Large nets are stretched across the end of a narrow 
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