FEEDING A TAME ROCK DOVE 169 
among the desolate crags of cold and misty 
Labrador; who has observed, and shot and drawn, 
and described the birds of half a continent. Well, 
what then ? Has this man the grave and solemn 
croak of that carrion-crow, or the pertness and 
impudence of that pilfering jackdaw. No, I have 
seen him chasing tom-tits with all the glee of a 
truant school-boy, and have heard him communicate 
his knowledge with the fervour and feeling of a 
warm-hearted soul, as he is .—British Birds, vol. i., 
p. 239. 
5._A Tame Young Rock Dove. 
The boys in the Outer Hebrides often attempt 
to rear young doves, but their cares are seldom 
continued long enough. They introduce the food, 
dry barley grain, by the side of the mouth, which 
occasions inflammation and swelling of the basal 
margins of the mandibles. When a boy, I had a 
young rock dove, which I fed for some time in this 
manner, until the bill became tumid and sore, 
when, in consequence of advice from a friend, I 
took a mouthful of barley and water, and intro¬ 
duced the pigeon’s bill, when the bird soon satisfied 
itself, flapping its wings gently and uttering a low 
cry all the while. It grew up vigorously, shed the 
yellow down-tips of its feathers, and began to fly 
about. Towards the middle of autumn it renewed 
