A Dove's Meal The greediest of all the birds, though
they do not trouble most gardens, are the ring-doves. Happily they are quite as fond of the early leaves of several forest trees as of cultivated garden crops, though on due occasion they will devour Gar- gantuan amounts of clover, brussels sprouts and turnip-tops. The following quotation from a letter written by a very observant naturalist from South Scotland will illustrate this point and some others : " My excitements have been a goosander's nest in a hollow tree, and the first wheatear I have seen, no other summer birds. Something, probably a squirrel, has bitten off the leafy shoots of the horse-chestnut and scooping out the delicious young swellings. The ring-doves spend all their time grazing on the young leaves of the beeches, evidently the green bait of the season ! "
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