COLUMB^. ( 151 ) COLUMBID^. 



THE TURTLE DOVE. 

 Turtur communis. 



The Turtour for hir maik, 



Mair dule may 7iocht indure ; 

 Nor I do for hir saik, 



Evin hir quha hes in cure 

 My hairt, quhilk sal be sure. 



Darnley's Ballat, 1542-1567. 



The Turtle Dove is rarely seen in Berwickshire. It, how- 

 ever, sometimes occurs in the county in autumn, probably 

 on migration southwards from Denmark or Scandinavia, 

 which appear to form its northern European breeding range. 



An adult female, preserved in Berwick Museum, was 

 shot near Edrington, on the Whitadder, on the 21st of 

 October 1872,^ and a young male was killed not far from 

 the same place on the 19th of November 1874.^ Another 

 young male was obtained at Lamberton by Mr. James Mein 

 on a very stormy day about the middle of September 1880. 

 It was apparently much fatigued, and could not fly well.^ 



This species is a summer visitor to England and Wales, 

 where it generally arrives about the beginning of May, 

 departing southwards again in September. It is common 

 in the midland and southern counties, but becomes rare in 

 the north. 



I have seen numbers of Turtle Doves in the neighbour- 

 hood of Eemorantin, Loir-et-Cher, France, where they fed 

 in the rye-fields, and built their nests in the birch-trees 

 which overhung the tributaries of the river Sauldre. Their 

 flight was very rapid and tortuous. 



1 Hist. Ber. Nat. Club, vol. vi. p. 434. 2 /j,^. vol. vii. p. 286. 



3 Ibid. vol. ix. p. 402. 



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