strone centre ribs of the leaves left sticking out. Perhaps 5 a a aterpillars—merely the . came tron carer ? nat the turnips should have been lifted and stored ; but on you will say that this was bad farming, and tl € If the crop has been good, eee net oe me eee the extra turnips are let to some utcher or sheep-farmer, and consumed by his sheep on . : « During Fa severe weather of January 1867," eave Mr. Cordeaux, “ seats oe ed frequented the turnip-fields in North Lincolnshire, feeding on the green tops Oo . sw Ree turnips; they appear, however, to give a decided preference to the latter plant. in wo 2 a S S, 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 Pe ine the bulbs, which is surprising, considering they were frozen as hard a stones; they thus often do considerable damage to the root. As a general rule I found that the outer skin of the swedes thus operated upen mes previously more or less injured, either by the bite of hares or rabbits, or the puncture of some insect. —ZLoologist, 1867, p. 690. : That the Wood-Pigeon is equally destructive in the cornfields seems certain ; for “ Scoticus aN :—“ In the autumn, when the wheat is just turning yellow, the Wood-Pigeons are very destructive. First one or two leave the wood and settle, generally in the centre of the field ; then ensues a constant stream in the same direction of every pigeon within ken, until some hundreds may be assembled. They don’t settle, like the partridge, at the foot of the stalk on the ground, but try to alight on the standing stalks of corn; the straw breaks with their weight, and never recovers; it is not merely bent as from heavy rain. Of course they eat some grain ; but in this case their actual weight is more destructive than their appetite ; the corn lies matted, and, if tie weather be warm and damp, begins to sprout. But it is in winter that the Wood- Pigeon is most destructive.” The following instance of the voracity of the Wood-Pigeon appeared in the ‘ Times’ of Oct. 22, 1857 :— “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 of 100 or 200 of these destructive birds would devour in the course of a harvest season must be very considerable.” —ZJnwverness Courier. In the ‘ Field’ for Jan. 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 of 690 berries of the ivy, also some portion of the rape-leaf, which I suppose was eaten to digest the ivy-berries.” As a set-off to all this mischief, St. John remarks,—‘* Although without doubt quantities of grain, at some seasons the Wood-Pigeon must feed for weeds, which, if left to or a consumer of great many months wholly on the seeds of ow, 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 ofautumn. For my own part, Tam inclined to think that there is ; for for such streams of them as those described by Mr. Il them to cross the German ocean there can be no doubt. Pigeon tribe we have abundant evidence ; but it w of America, which excites the astonishment of every one who beholds it during its tr or wee versa. Besides England, Scotland, and Ireland, the Wood-P; ‘ parts of Europe; it also occurs in North Africa, Palestine The breeding of this familiar species how otherwise are we to account sey? That their wing-power is sufficient to enable That great migratory movements are natural to the ill only be hecessary to cite the case of the Passenger Pigeon ansit from north to south, geon is found over all the temperate » and, according to Mr. Jerdon, in Western Asia. that it is scarcely necessary to allude to it. Its two ing the spring and summer months on its slight platform of sticks 0 ‘ i . nn : . we ods and shrubberies. The nest is usually placed on the horizontal a ' 7 ; oF a ie a mass of ivy growing on large trees en com s laying early j 1 i ae pues laying early in April; and its ay be seen sitting side by side on their slight and flat platform as male and female sit by turns, Is sO well known oblong white eggs may be seen any day dur by any person who will seek for it in the w branch of a fir, or in the middle of It d i cae ee : rears two, and sometimes j ugly squabs of a later hatching late as September and October. The The two sexes are alike in colour ; but the female j : 5 ale Is somew Wood-Pigeon is both good and palatable, especially if they hay Lhe figure is of the natural size. hat smaller than the male. The flesh of the e not been feeding upon turnips.