Where are the Pigeons 1
As to birds, it is generally agreed that the number of most resident species depends chiefly on the severity of the winter, but we have small means of discovering why fluctuations in the number of migrants, especially perhaps winter visitors, are so large. In some districts, at any rate, this winter Is re- markable for the very small incursion of wood pigeons froth the Continent. It is the general custom in some counties for the farmers to build " hides " and bait the ground in order to reduce the numbers ; and they have this justification : that the appetite of the pigeon is fantastic, though it is nearly as fond of buttercups jwhich are poisonous to some creatures) as of clover. This year .1 he fanners have entirely omitted their normal practice, for there are no wood pigeons except the comparatively few which bred at home. In one wood well known to me their place has been taken in a favourite group of larch trees by jackdaws, a species which certainly
increases.
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