T he T urtle D ove is only a summer visiter. here,- and
like most of our summer visiters comes to this country fern
Africa, and returns there again before winter* not remaining
even in the Italian states beyond the- middle ,.of autumn.
These birds arriye-in England about the end of April, or the
beginning of May, and are rather more numerous in the
south-eastern, .southern, and midland counties than in those
■which are farther' north. 7-Theii£appearance 4s observed and
hailed with pleasure each returning spring, as denoting the
season of buds and flowed,, and as emblems of serenity and
peace their mournfully plaintive notes,give pleasure. Sportsmen
speak of a flight of- Pigeons,, but they say also a dule of
Turtles, from dofeo, the term in this instance, as in “thafvlÉf
fore mentioned at page 2&0, having-referetihe to the-parlicu-
lar character: of the voiceSOf the bird. They^frëquent&'woods,
fir plantations, and high thick hedges dividing arable land.
They make a thin, almost transparent. platform eight or
ten feet above the ground'in-thé' forked-branch of antoak^on
a fir tree, or near the top of- a. thick and* tall bush-- Upon
this nest vthe femfale deposits twÓA-eggé -about *tl‘e middle, of
June, according to- thé observations of Mr. .Tony ns.
eggs are white,-rathet pointed afe: one1 ëirdlitoiïe ingh two
lines and a half long, by ten l in e s » wicllfe The parent
birds sit by turns* the' male occasionally also*:feeding his maté'
during incubation, and both afterwards mutuaïlyiabburing for
the support of the young. In this country they are considered
as producing but one brood in the season, but in fife
south of France these birds are known to have a second pair of
young. Their food is grain, particularly wheat, and they are
constant visiters tp the wheat field while the corn is growing,-
and to pea-fields: they also feed on rape, and other-small
seeds. In the autumn they fly in small parties of ten or twelve
birds, and leave, this country about, the end of August, and
sometimes as late as the ènd of-September, particularly in
those .seasons when our harvest is backward. I have several
times killed both adult birds and the young of the year when
p # Partridge shooting in< Hertfordshire ; but I have observed
Jhatotbese toixifsiare » o r e numerous in the thickly-wooded
parts ;(^th^m!id(§e^of the -of Kent than elsewhere.
In .the western'counties, the Turtle Dove-is found in Dorsetshire,
Detonsh&re^ and is not uncommon im Cornwall.
ib is found in Shropshire, where it: is called
the WrOkin D,ov^ If >ist found in Lancashire ; and is men-
^bm^d ,jas*'v^‘iting Cumberland both by Mr. Heysham and
Mr. Sanderson. In Ireland, Mr. Templeton says this spel
l s ;has at Cranmore ;and at BhaUe’s Castle. Sir
William J^rdine-sends me word that he once shot this bird in
t,he garden, of Jardine H a ll in Dumfriesshire^ and in the
eighth yolumevofpie Magaztf e-uf Natural History there is a
notice-of 4 specimehiotothe Turtle Dove having been shot in
Perthshire'5 in 1 8 8 ^ so l a t e » the year-as the 20th of
October. • Orii,the easferh^side, of England it is eommon in
Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk. The Rev. Richard Lubbock,
who haC3®5K>»red me with many notes^ in .reference to Birds
and Fis^s^fells mg that the Turtle DovO' builds- frequently
in .fir p lan ta tio n s^ ; various parts of Norfolk ; is content to
place its vn^sk much nearer the ground, and in a much smaller
tree than the Ring Doye affects ; and mentions that he has
observed it breeding within half- a mile of the city of Norwich.
This1 bird has been taken near Scarborough, and also near
York ; and Bewick .mentions that a youngs bird was shot out
of a flock at Prestwick Car in Northumberland, in the month
of September 1794. I do not find any notice of the Turtle
Dove visiting any part of Scandinavia or Russia. I t is common
in Germany in summer, and from thence southward to
the shores, of the Mediterranean,. going still farther south
before the end of autumn. Mr. Fellows has included this
bird among those seen by him in Asia Minor in 1888; and