columbidje:. 95 



in 1865. Specimens are shot every year near Maiden- 

 head, Aylesbury, Taplow, and Newbury ; in fact, 

 there is, in all probability, no locality in either county 

 in which it has not been obtained. Nine were shot 

 by a man near Eton in a couple of hours one day, 

 A man named Drye shot nineteen during one 

 summer in Windsor Park, and persecuted as it is, 

 it is surprising that this poor bird is not far less com- 

 mon. The Turtle Dove is a lovely bird, and ought 

 surely to be protected ; it has ever been regarded 

 as the emblem of peace, fidelity, and love ; thus that 

 old lover of nature, Shakespeare, says, — 



'Modest as the Dove.' 



Ta7ning of the Shrew, Act iii. Scene 2. 



' The Dove and very blessed spirit of peace. ' 



Henry IV. Part I. Act iv. Scene i. 



' As true as steel, as plantage to the moon, 

 As sun to-day, as Turtle to her mate.' 



Troilus and Cressida, Act iii. Scene 2. 



' So Turtles pair 

 That never mean to part.' 



Winter's 7 ale, Act iv. Scene 3. 



There is a paragraph in the Rev. Leonard Jenyn's 

 ' Manual of British Vertebratae,' which I cannot ex- 

 plain : — 'The spotted-necked variety,* first noticed 



* Since writing the above I received a letter on this subject from 

 my friend Mr. J. E. Harting, of Kingsbury, who says, 'Donovan, 

 in his work on British Birds, has figured a species of Turtle, under 

 the name of Coliiniba albotiotata, plate 149. Latham, in his " History 

 of Birds," has referred to it as a variety of the Common Turtle. 



