CAROLINA TURTLE DOVE.
a large circle, and sailing smoothly with wings and tail expanded, until
in this manner he alights on the tree where his mate is, or on one very near
it. These manoeuvres are frequently repeated during the days of incubation,
and occasionally when the male bird is courting the female. No
sooner do they alight than they jerk out their tail in a very graceful manner,
and balance their neck and head. Their migrations are not so extensive
as those of the Wild Pigeon (Columba migratoria) ; nor are they
performed in such numbers, two hundred and fifty or three hundred
doves together being considered a large flock.
On the ground, along the fences, or on the branches of trees, the
Carolina Turtle walks with great ease and grace, frequently jerking its
tail. It is able to run with some swiftness when searching for food in
places where it is scarce. It seldom bathes, but drinks by swallowing
the water in long draughts, with the bill deeply immersed, frequently up
to the eyes.
They breed in every portion of the United States that I have visited,
and according to the temperature of different localities, rear either one or
two broods in the season. In Louisiana, they lay eggs early in April,
and sometimes in the month of March, and have there two broods. In
the State of Connecticut, they seldom begin to lay before the middle of
May, and as seldom have more than one brood. On the borders of Lake
Superior, they are still later. They lay two eggs of a pure white colour,
and having some degree of translucency. They make their nest in any
land of tree, on horizontal branches or twigs. It is formed of a few dry
sticks, so loosely put together as to appear hardly sufficient to keep the
eggs or young from falling.
The roosting places which the Carolina Turtles prefer are among the
long grasses found growing in abandoned fields, at the foot of dry stalks
of maize, or on the edges of meadows, although they occasionally resort to
the dead foliage of trees, as well as that of different species of evergreens.
JBut in all these places they rise and fly at the approach of man, however
dark the night may be, which proves that the power of sight which they
then possess is very great. They seldom place themselves very near each
other when roosting on the ground, but sometimes the individuals of a
flock appear diffused pretty equally over a whole field. In this particular,
they greatly differ from our Common Wild Pigeon, which settles in
compact masses on the limbs of trees during the night. The Doves, however,
like the Pigeons, are fond of-returning to the same roosting grounds
CAROLINA TURTLE DOVE. 93
from considerable distances. A few individuals sometimes mix with the
Wild Pigeons, as do the latter sometimes with the Doves.
The Turtle Dove may with propriety be considered more as a gleaner
than as a reaper of the husbandman's fields, scarcely ever committing any
greater depredation than the picking up a few grains in seed-time, after
which it prefers resorting to those fields from which the grain has been
cut and removed. It is a hardy bird, and stands the severest winters of
our Middle States, where some remain the whole year.
The flesh of these birds is remarkably fine, when they are obtained
young and in the proper season. Such birds become extremely fat, are
tender and juicy, and in flavour equal in the estimation of some of my
friends, as well as in my own, to that of the Snipe or even the Woodcock ;
but as taste in such matters depends much on circumstances, and perhaps
on the whim of individuals, I would advise you, reader, to try for yourself.
These birds require good shooting to bring them down, when on
wing, for they fly with great swiftness, and not always in a direct manner.
It is seldom that more than one can be killed at a shot when they are flying,
and rarely more than two or three when on the ground, on account
of their natural propensity to keep apart.
In winter, they approach the farm-houses, feed among the Poultry,
Sparrows, Grakles, and many other birds, and appear very gentle ; but no
sooner are they frequently disturbed or shot at, than they become extremely
shy. When raised from the nest, they are easily tamed. I have
even known some instances of their breeding in confinement. When
caught in traps and cooped, they feed freely, and soon become fat, when
they are excellent for the table.
When shot, or taken alive in the hand, this and our other species of
Pigeon, lose the feathers on the slightest touch, a circumstance peculiar
to the genus, and to certain gallinaceous birds.
The Stuartia Malacodendron, on which I have placed the two pairs
alluded to at the commencement of this article, is a tree of small height,
which grows in rich grounds at the foot of hills not far from water-courses.
The wood is brittle and useless, the flower destitute of scent, but extremely
agreeable to the eye. Little clusters of twenty or thirty of these trees
are dispersed over the southernmost of the United States. I have never
met with it in the Middle, Western or Northern Districts.