<html><head><base href="x-msg://824/"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><br><div>I consulted with one of my best sources on British birds, Patrick Parrinder, and this is his nicely informed answer about the wood pigeons. They do of course nod their way into my new book, Virginia Woolf and Modernist Uses of Nature. <br><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div fpstyle="1" ocsi="0" style="word-wrap: break-word; "><div style="direction: ltr; font-family: Tahoma; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 10pt; "><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">I remember that W.H. Hudson writes about wood pigeons in his<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><em>Birds in London</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(1898). He took them then to be a new bird for inner London, and I think they came to the coal yards (don't ask me why) by the Great Western line at Westbourne Park, close to where he lived.</div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "><em>The Birds of the London Area</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(revised edn, 1964), of which my father was one of the authors, has a full discussion on pp.211-12, the gist being as follows:</div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">The woodpigeon increased rapidly in central London after 1883, spreading to squares and gardens, and soon became one of the commonest London breeding birds. An organised shooting campaign in the early 1940s brought about a striking reduction, but after 1945 numbers began to increase again. London woodpigeons were much tamer than those in rural areas, and the same phenomenon was noted in Berlin and Paris, cities that they colonised before they came into London. Suburban breeding stocks were less tame than those in the inner city. London pigeons were known to nest on isolated trees and, sometimes, on buildings.</div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">I should add that they remain something of a pest to this day, certainly where I live in London! Feral pigeons, collared and stock doves are much less common here.</div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; ">Do share this with your Woolfian colleagues--she is certainly vindicated. If she were writing novels today, of course, they'd be full of London's latest invader, the ring-necked parakeet.</div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> Best,</div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> Patrick</div><p style="margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; "> </p><div style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 16px; "><hr tabindex="-1"><div id="divRpF209265" style="direction: ltr; "><font color="#000000" size="2" face="Tahoma"><b>From:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Bonnie Scott [<a href="mailto:bkscott@mail.sdsu.edu">bkscott@mail.sdsu.edu</a>]<br><b>Sent:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>08 January 2013 16:49<br><b>To:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Patrick Parrinder<br><b>Subject:</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>Fwd: [Vwoolf] Problems with pigeons<br></font><br></div><div></div><div>Just came across this communication from Stuart Clarke. Have you any insights into wood pigeon habitat in the lat 19th and early 20th century??? I certainly saw lots around Oxford when we were there.<div>Cheers,</div><div>Bonnie<br><div><br><div>Begin forwarded message:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><b>From:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; ">"Stuart N. Clarke" <<a href="mailto:stuart.n.clarke@btinternet.com" target="_blank">stuart.n.clarke@btinternet.com</a>><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><b>Subject:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><b>[Vwoolf] Problems with pigeons</b><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><b>Date:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; ">December 25, 2012 3:10:30 AM PST<br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><b>To:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: medium; "><<a href="mailto:vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu" target="_blank">vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu</a>><br></span></div><br><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family: Calibri; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; "><div style="font-style: normal; display: inline; font-family: Calibri; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: small; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; "><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-family: Calibri; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-size: 12pt; "><div> </div><div>One of the bird successes in England is its colonisation by the collared dove:</div><div><a title="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Collared_Dove" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Collared_Dove" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_Collared_Dove</a></div><div>They only appeared in the 1950s (I don’t remember ever seeing one), but now they seem to be everywhere. We even get them in our tiny garden.</div><div> </div><div>In the 1950s and 1960s in our garden in Wimbledon, an outer suburb of London, we got feral pigeons but only occasionally wood pigeons. It is the wood pigeon that calls “Take two coos, Taffy, take two coos . . . tak . . .” – famous from “The Years”.</div><div> </div><div>My question is: how come there are so many wood pigeons in central London in “The Years”? Is Woolf being inauthentic or have the wood pigeon demographics (if I can be anthropomorphic here) changed over the years?</div><div> </div><div>Let’s go through the refs (using the 1969 Harvest edn p. nos):</div><div> </div><div>226-7: these are feral – outside St Paul’s in 1914, “The pigeons were swirling up and then settling down again. The doors were opening and shutting as he mounted the steps. The pigeons were a nuisance, he thought, making a mess on the steps.”</div><div> </div><div>275: these must be wood pigeons in the country in the N. of England in 1914: “pigeons crooned in the tree tops”</div><div> </div><div>75: wood pigeons in Oxford in 1880</div><div> </div><div>3: these must be wood pigeons in central London in 1880: “The pigeons in the squares shuffled in the tree tops, letting fall a twig or two, and crooned over and over again the lullaby that was always interrupted.“</div><div> </div><div>115 (1891), 174-6 & 187 (1910), 433 (Present Day): wood pigeons in central London</div><div> </div><div>I suppose this is really a question for Ian Blyth, our Woolfian bird expert!</div><div> </div><div>Stuart</div></div></div></div></div></div></div>_______________________________________________<br>Vwoolf mailing list<br><a href="mailto:Vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu" target="_blank">Vwoolf@lists.service.ohio-state.edu</a><br><a href="https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf">https://lists.service.ohio-state.edu/mailman/listinfo/vwoolf</a><br></blockquote></div><br><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="widows: 2; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; border-collapse: separate; font: normal normal normal medium/normal Helvetica; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="widows: 2; text-transform: none; text-indent: 0px; letter-spacing: normal; border-collapse: separate; font: normal normal normal medium/normal Helvetica; white-space: normal; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; "><div>Bonnie Kime Scott, Ph. D.</div><div>Professor Emerita of Women's Studies</div><div>San Diego State University</div><div><a href="mailto:bkscott@mail.sdsu.edu" target="_blank">bkscott@mail.sdsu.edu</a></div></div></span></span></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></blockquote></div><br><div apple-content-edited="true">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-size: medium; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div>Bonnie Kime Scott, Ph. D.</div><div>Professor Emerita of Women's Studies</div><div>San Diego State University</div><div><a href="mailto:bkscott@mail.sdsu.edu">bkscott@mail.sdsu.edu</a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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