. The birds of Iona & Mull . inland. Then ourfields are covered with those petty plunderers, and at night thecaves are filled with roosting birds, which remain about the islandas long as food is very plentiful, and then decamp. I think,however, that individual birds are a good deal in the habit of 1 See Vertebrate Fauna of the Outer Hebrides. D. Douglas, Edinburgh, 1888,p. 113. In other districts of greater agricultural merit, however, the Rock Dovesconstantly frequent the corn stubbles or barley stubbles of the interior, as atTantallon, the coasts of Berwickshire, &c, and in the Orkneys.—Ed.
. The birds of Iona & Mull . inland. Then ourfields are covered with those petty plunderers, and at night thecaves are filled with roosting birds, which remain about the islandas long as food is very plentiful, and then decamp. I think,however, that individual birds are a good deal in the habit of 1 See Vertebrate Fauna of the Outer Hebrides. D. Douglas, Edinburgh, 1888,p. 113. In other districts of greater agricultural merit, however, the Rock Dovesconstantly frequent the corn stubbles or barley stubbles of the interior, as atTantallon, the coasts of Berwickshire, &c, and in the Orkneys.—Ed. 82 THE BIRDS OF ION A AND MULL. frequenting the same localities and roosting in the same caveuntil driven off by some cause. I have watched marked birdsdoing so; especially last summer, I was observing a large whitemale Pigeon, which had evidently escaped from the cot; he tookto himself a little wild mate, and reared a brood in one of thecaves. I made a duty of destroying his family,which was easily done, as they B^ep^. ^^^m^: £* ■■ ;- ■•■ ..••; \ J but he himself, though of such a conspicuous colour, always contrived to escape. He became very wary from being pursued, and I remarked that he always frequented the same cave, till he received a random shot, after which I lost sight of him for a considerable time; but I found him at last, located upon the other side of the island, where he remained till his death.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectbirdsscotlandhebride
