486 TURTLE-DOVE. 



as well as to the Outer Hebrides. In Ireland, as yet it has hardly 

 been known to breed, but as a spring visitor it is on the increase. 

 Departure for the south usually takes place in September, but many 

 birds remain later, and one was even obtained on December 21st 

 1894 at Penrith (Macpherson) ; while Col. John Evans had a good 

 view of a bird near Horsham on February 8th 1898, the mildest 

 winter on record. 



The Turtle-Dove has been obtained at Quickiock in Lapland, 

 but it is rare to the north of the Baltic, though generally distributed 

 throughout the rest of Europe, and especially abundant in the south 

 at the periods of migration. At that time it is also plentiful in Asia 

 Minor, Palestine and Persia, and has been obtained as far east as 

 Yarkand. Its Asiatic representative is T. orientalis, while the 

 Collared Turtle-Dove, T. risorius, so often seen in confinement, 

 has its western limit in Turkey. Our bird occurs in Madeira and its 

 islets, the Canaries, and Northern Africa ; even breeding in Egypt, 

 though there the more abundant species is T. isabellimis. Its 

 migrations extend to about lat. 12° N. in the Red Sea, and to the 

 highlands of Abyssinia. 



The nest, very slightly constructed of slender twigs, is usually at 

 no great height from the ground, on the branches of a tree or a 

 thick bush : sometimes an old nest of a Rook is utilized (H. S. 

 Davenport). The 2 eggs, laid late in May or early in June, are of 

 a somewhat creamy-white and rather pointed at one end : measure- 

 ments I "2 by "9 in. The parents take turns in the task of incuba- 

 tion, which lasts about a fortnight, and two broods are sometimes 

 reared in the season. The Turtle-Dove is partial to grain, pulse, 

 and seeds, including those of numerous weeds ; like other members 

 of the family, it drinks regularly. Its flight is rapid, and, when 

 amongst trees, remarkably tortuous ; the note is a low plaintive coo, 

 uttered more especially by the cock bird. 



The adult male has the head, nape, outer wing-coverts, rump 

 and flanks bluish-ash ; a conspicuous patch of black feathers 

 tipped with white on each side of the neck ; feathers of the mantle 

 chiefly cinnamon-brown with dark centres ; tail-feathers broadly 

 tipped with white ; throat and breast pale vinaceous ; belly and 

 under tail-coverts white. Length 11 '25; wing 6'8 in. The female 

 is rather smaller, and her tints are browner. In the young before 

 the moult in September (represented by the lower figure) there 

 is no white on the neck, and the upper plumage is suff'used with 

 l^rown. 



