158 : WOOD PIGEON. 
was at a little distance; but as it had no peas left, it came 
to the parsonage to be fed. This went on for some time; 
but the poor bird having lost its fear of man, was therefore 
exposed to constant danger from those who did not know 
it. It experienced the fate of most pets:—a stranger saw 
it quietly sitting on a tree, and shot it, to the great regret 
of all its former friends.’’ 
Another tamed one has been known, after flying away to 
a considerable distance, and remaining absent for several 
hours, to return again. 
In a few instances they have been known to breed in 
confinement. : 
The following is from “The Naturalist,’ volume i, page 28, 
from the pen of my friend the Rev. R. P. Alington, a true 
lover of nature, and one of the best and most thorough of 
out-of-door naturalists; it is a good specimen too of the ‘multum 
In parvo:—‘As soon as twilight commences, the various flocks 
begin to collect, and settle in numbers upon the larch firs: 
when they arrive at their roosting-ground, they not unfre- 
quently take two or three turns high in the air, and then 
the whole flock will commence dropping, with closed wings 
and a rushing sound, upon the trees: they generally spend 
half an hour or so upon the very topmost branches, their vinous 
breasts glittering in the setting sun. As darkness comes on 
they retire to the lower branches to roost; as each bird 
descends, a loud flap of the wing may be heard—an exciting 
sound to the expecting gunner—now is the time for him: 
the increasing darkness prevents the birds leaving the wood, 
and many may be secured during the last half hour of the - 
lingering light. But during the day their extreme shyness 
renders it a most difficult task to get within shot. In the 
clear, cold, trosty days in winter, they may be heard at a 
considerable distance—their wings making a whistling sound. 
As spring comes on, their numbers, in this district, rapidly 
decrease, and they leave, (where they go I know not,) to 
breed—a very few to all appearance remaining here. ‘These 
now desert the woods, and very often approach the garden 
to feed upon the new-sown pea.’ 
The late Bishop Stanley says, ‘That birds of this species 
can form odd attachments, we may learn from the following 
strange association between a House Pigeon and a cat:—The 
Pigeon had made her nest in a loft much infested with 
rats, which had more than once destroyed her eggs, or 
