196 Tue Brrps Asour Us. 
remains of the countless hordes which well-nigh devoured “ every 
green thing’ during the preceding summer and fall,’ a statement 
which will surprise ornithologists who have been accustomed to con- 
sider birds of this family as exclusively vegetarian.” 
The Turtle-dove is everywhere well known. In 
the Middle States it is both resident and migratory, 
and while shy and keeping much out of sight, is 
nevertheless not a rare bird nor one difficult to find 
if you take the trouble to look it up. At certain 
seasons they are often seen in public roads dusting 
themselves, and I have known them to build their 
nests very near to dwellings; but for all this, they are 
a bird of the out-of-the-way nooks and corners of 
the farms, and keep pretty close to the woods the 
greater part of the time. Their flight-power is very 
good, and when you startle them they speed away 
with a whistling of the wings that is as characteristic 
as the a’-kod-kod-koo that we hear all day long from 
April until the end of summer. 
Doves are not, like the wild pigeon, gregarious, and 
yet we sometimes see a great many in a very short 
space of time; but however abundant, it is always a 
close association of individuals that move quite in- 
dependently. They do not seem to “ flock” like 
blackbirds. 
This dove is found as far west as Arizona, and Dr. 
Coues states that it there builds its nest sometimes 
in such thorny bushes that it seemed impossible the 
bird should itself escape injury. This was to protect 
itself and young against reptiles of many kinds. 
Even in such a benighted region the doves are very 
abundant. 
