TURTLE-DOVE. 411 
TURTUR AURITUS. 
TURTLE-DOVE, 
(Puate 17.) 
Columba turtur, Briss. Orn. i. p. 92 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 284 (1766). 
Columba turtur lusitanus, Briss, Orn. i. p. 98 (1760). 
Peristera turtur (Briss.), Bote, Isis, 1828, p. 327. 
Peristera tenera, Brehm, Vig. Deutschl. p. 494 (1831). 
Turtur communis, Selby, Nat. Libr. Orn. v. pp. 153, 1711835) *. 
Turtur vulgaris, Zyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 32 (1836). 
Turtur auritus, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 472 (1844); et auctorum plurimorum— 
Temminck, Bonaparte, Degland § Gerbe, Cabanis, Salvadori, Riippell, Heuglin, 
Hartlaub, Gould, Shelley, Salvin, Tristram, Gurney, &c. 
Turtur migratorius, Selby, fide Sclater, Jardine’s Contr. Orn. ii. p. 126 (1852), © 
Unlike the true Pigeons the Turtle-Dove leaves our islands on the 
approach of winter; but during the breeding-season it is generally distri- 
buted throughout England and Wales, becoming rarer in Cornwall, in the 
wilder Welsh counties, and north of South Yorkshire. In Scotland it is 
only known as an accidental straggler on migration; but in Ireland it is 
said to breed sparingly. It has occurred once in Orkney, and passes the 
Shetland Islands regularly in spring and autumn; but has not been re- 
corded from the Outer Hebrides. 
The Turtle-Dove is a summer visitor to the Western Palzarctic Region. 
On the Faroes its appearance is only accidental; but in Denmark and 
Scandinavia it appears to be irregularly distributed throughout the forest 
country. In Russia it has not been known to occur north of lat. 60°. 
East of the Urals it is a summer visitor to Turkestan (as far east as the 
Altai Mountains, Yarkand, and Gilgit), Afghanistan, Persia, and Asia 
Minor. It is a summer visitor to Central and Southern Europe, and in 
Palestine and North Africa as far south as Abyssinia it is principally 
* The nomenclature of this bird exhibits perhaps more strongly than any other the 
evils of the Stricklandian Code. For many years the Turtle-Dove enjoyed undisturbed 
the name of Turtur auritus. Dresser, in his ‘ Birds of Europe,’ however, adopts the name 
of Turtur vulgaris, ignoring the prior name of Brehm’s, and placing a query in front of it 
in order to satisfy his conscience and justify his adoption of the later name, This is a 
case of “ voluntary inaccuracy ” for which the Stricklandian Code must be held responsible. 
Saunders, in his continuation of Newton’s ‘ Yarrell,’ rakes up another name, and calls the 
Turtle-Dove Turtur communis. Let us hope that his ignorance of German induced him 
blindly te follow Dresser in ignoring Brehm’s earlier name. According to the rules of 
the British Association the name of the Turtle-Dove is Twrtur tenera (Brehm), 
