WOOD PIGEON. 155 
peas: if i did rot follow him at once, but continued where 
I was, he soon returned, and after waiting a little, presently 
went back again. This I always understood as an invitation 
to go and open the pea pods for him; and it was one 
I always acceded to, although sometimes I caused it to be 
repeated several! times. 
He was now as nearly in a state of nature as possible; 
with abundance of his natural food within his reach, uncon- 
trolled, as far as liberty was concerned, and with numerous 
birds of his own species in the neighbourhood. There was 
nothing to prevent his making off if he chose, yet he never 
shewed the least inclination to do so. He flew to me fear- 
lessly as ever, to the very last day of my stay at home; if 
he saw me lying on the grass, he came and nestled on my 
breast. I walked about the garden, and in and out of the 
house with him on my shoulder; and though he never 
favoured any of my friends with the same symptoms of 
confidence and attachment as he did myself, he was under 
no kind of fear of them. At last ‘Black Monday’ came 
round again. I loved him too well to confine him; still 
less could I think of taking him back to school with me; 
so I left him to do as he liked. 
For the first three or four days of my absence he con- 
tinued to keep about the house; he seemed to be looking 
for something he had lost; once, and once only, he flew 
on my father’s shoulder, but seemed instantly to be aware 
that it was not his well-loved master, and stayed no longer 
than to find it out. He was seen about the garden for 
long afterwards, but came no more near any of my relatives. 
Some of his habits were sufficiently amusing. For instance, 
if a dead bird were shewn to him, his ire was instantly 
roused, and he attacked it with the greatest fierceness; a 
rough harsh note was first emitted, and then followed a 
shower of pecks and blows of the wing upon the bird, the 
feathers of which were dispersed in all directions. So deter- 
mined was the onset, that the bird was half plucked in 4 
very short time. If while sleeping—previous, that is, to his 
being left out all night—I awakened him unceremoniously, 
his anger was expressed much in the same way;—the rough 
eoo and blow were instantly given. 
I have never had another Ring Dove so thoroughly tame 
as this one, though I have succeeded in familiarizing several; 
the fact is, IT never took so much pains and trouble with 
