TURTLE DOVE. 177 



Qualis speluncci, subito commota Columba, 

 Cui domus, et dulces latebroso in pumice nidi, 

 Fertur in arva volans, plausumque exterrita pennis, 

 Dat tecto ingentem mox aere lapsa quieto, 

 Radit iter liquidum, celeres neque cumin' )vet alas. 



YiRdiL— JEaeid 5, 213—217. 



As when the Dove her rocky hold forsakes, 

 Rous'd in a fright, her sounding wings she shakes, 

 The cavern rings with clatt'ring ; out she flies, 

 And leaves her callow care, and cleaves the skies ; 

 At first she flutters ; but at length she springs 

 To smoother flight, and shoots upon her wings. 



Drtden. 



Genus— TURTUR. 

 TURTUR COMMUNIS— Turtle Dove. 



We'll teach him to know Turtles from Jays. 



Shakespeare— iJfcrr^ Wives of Windsor III., 3. 



The green hill-side 



The haunt of cooing Turtle. 



Mack AY. 



The Turtle Dove has ever held a foremost place among the 

 pleasant sounds and sights of spring. It is migratory in Palestine, 

 as well as here, and is thus introduced in the bright picture of 

 spring, in the Song of Songs. 



" Lo, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone ; the flowers appear on 

 the earth ; the time of the singing of birds is come, and the voice of the Turtle 

 is heard in our land." — Cant. II., 11 & 12. 



This pretty little Dove, the smallest of its tribe, is supposed 



to get its Latin name from its note, which is fairly represented by 



the word "tur-r-r, tu-r-r." It is a soft, simple, monotonous murmur, 



rather than a " coo." Poets, ancient and modern, call it "a moan," 



but it is a plaintive, trembling note, soft and soothing, rather than 



sadj or melancholy. 



Nee gemere aeria cessabit Turtur ab ulmo. 



Virgil— Eclog I., 58. 



Nor shall, from lofty elm, the Turtle cease to moan. 



— Tram. 



The Turtle's moan is heard in every grove. 



Philips. 



The moan of Doves in immemorial elms. 



Tennyson— TAe Princess. 



M 



