garden suffering from caterpillars—merely the strong centre ribs of the leaves left sticking out. Perhaps
you will say that this was bad farming, and that the turnips should have been lifted and stored ; but on
arable farms in Scotland, in the regular rotation o f crops, one-seventh of the farm is probably under turnips.
I f the crop has been good, this is more than the farmer requires ; and the extra turnips are let to some
butcher or sheep-farmer, and consumed by his sheep on the ground.”
“ During the severe weather of January 1867,” says Mr. Cordeaux,” hundreds of these birds daily
frequented the turnip-fields in North Lincolnshire, feeding on the green tops o f the swedes and common
turnips ; they appear, however, to give a decided preference to the latter plant. In two contiguous fields,
the one swedes, the other the common globe turnip, they invariably congregated in much greater numbers
on the white turnips, to the comparative neglect of the swedes. They drilled holes with their bills into the
bulbs, which is surprising, considering they were frozen as hard as stones ; they thus often do considerable
damage to the root. As a general rule I found that the outer skin o f the swedes thus operated upon was
previously more or less injured, either by the bite o f hares or rabbits, o r the puncture o f some insect.”
—Zoologist, 1867, p. 690.
That the Wood-Pigeon is equally destructive in the cornfields seems certain ; for “ Scoticus ” says :— “ In
the autumn, when the wheat is ju st turning yellow, the Wood-Pigeons are very destructive. F irst one or
two leave the wood and settle, generally in the centre o f the field ; then ensues a constant stream in the same
direction o f every pigeon within ken, until some hundreds may be assembled. They don’t settle, like the
partridge, at the foot o f the stalk on the ground, but try to alight on the standing stalks of corn ; the straw
breaks with their weight, and never recovers ; i t is not merely bent as from heavy rain. Of course
they eat some grain ; but in this ease their actual weight is more destructive than their appetite ; the corn
lies matted, and, if the weather be warm and damp, begins to sprout. But it is in winter that the Wood-
Pigeon is most destructive.”
The following instance o f the voracity o f the Wood-Pigeon appeared in the ‘ Times ’ o f Oct. 2 2 ,1 8 5 7 :—
“ There was shot lately in the neighbourhood of Inverness a Wood-Pigeon, in which was found the
enormous quantity of 1,100 grains of wheat, barley, and oats (together with 40 peas), the barley-grains
predominating. This seems to be no unusual case. In another, killed on a neighbouring farm, was found
seventy peas, and a very large quantity of the grains above mentioned, but they were not counted ; it was
stated, however, that the bird was full to the very bill. The quantity a flock o f 100 or 200 o f these destructive
birds would devour in the course of a harvest season must be very considerable.”— Inverness Courier.
In the ‘ F ield ’ for J an . 1860, a Guildford subscriber writes :— “ On the 17th inst. I shot, close to my own
house, a fine Wood-Pigeon, and on reaching home, finding it had an immense crop, I took out its contents,
which were composed o f 690 berries o f the ivy, also some portion o f the rape-leaf, which I suppose was
eaten to digest the ivy-berries.”
As a set-off to all this mischief, St. John remarks,—r“ Although without doubt a consumer o f great
quantities o f grain, a t some seasons the Wood-Pigeon must feed for many months wholly on the seeds of
weeds, which, if left to grow, would injure the farmer’s crops to a very serious extent.”
It is a mooted question whether there be not a great influx of these birds from the Continent during the
months o f autumn. For my own part, I am inclined to think that there is ; for how otherwise are we to account
for such streams o f them as those described by Mr. Illsey ? That their wing-power is sufficient to enable
them to cross the German ocean there can be no doubt. Tha t g reat migratory movements are natural to the
Pigeon tribe we have abundant evidence ; but. it will only be necessary to cite the case of the Passenger Pigeon
of America, which excites the astonishment of every one who beholds it during its transit from north to south,
or vice versa. Besides England, Scotland, and Ireland, the Wood-Pigeon is found over all thé temperate
parts of Europe ; it also occurs in North Africa, Palestine, and, according to Mr. Jerdon, in Western Asia.
The breeding o f this familiar species is so well known that it is scarcely necessary to allude to it. Its two
oblong white eggs may be seen any day during the spring and summer months on its slight platform o f sticks
by any person who will seek for it in the woods and shrubberies. The nest is usually placed on the horizontal
branch of a fir, or in the middle of a mass o f ivy growing on large trees. It rears two, and sometimes
three broods in a year. I t often commences laying early in April ; and its ugly squabs o f a later hatching
may be seen sitting side by side on their slight and flat platform as late as September and October. The
male and female sit by turns.
The two sexes are alike in colour ; but the female is somewhat smaller than the male. The flesh o f the
Wood-Pigeon is both good and palatable, especially if they have not been feeding upon turnips.
The figure is of the natural size.