3 MARCH 1928, Page 14

Country Life

TAILLESS PIGEONS.

Many of those who hate the pigeon shooting at-Monte Carlo —about which many questions are asked-7-wonder why the , birds are robbed of their tails before being loosed from the traps. The reason is that they are supposed to rise more quickly and so become harder to hit. This is true enough. - The tendency of most shooters is to fire too low at rising birds. But if some birds escape that -would have been killed, it is probable that many are wounded which would have been killed. outright. In any case the plucking of the birds adds a disagreeable feature to an unworthy and loathsome spectacle as brandished before visitors to the once beautiful region where Monto Carlo flourishes.