Dear Darwin,

I told you some years ago that I had found a wood pigeons nest on the ground, the first I had ever seen in such a situation. This morning my gamekeeper and I found one on the ground in the middle of a whin bush on the Links.¹ We both saw the bird fly up and found the two eggs laid in a shallow hole scratched in the ground.

There are woods within half a mile on each side— My old game keeper said he had never seen one in such a place before—

Kindest regards | Faithfully Yours | J Brodie Innes