DOVE 165 
with the idea of a messenger (Genesis viii. 8-12), and its employ- 
ment in that capacity, developed successively by Greeks, Romans, 
Mussulmans, and Christians, has never been more fully made avail- 
able than in our own day, as witness the ‘‘ Pigeon-post” established 
during the siege of Paris in 1870-71. 
Leaving, then, this interesting subject, space does not permit 
our here dwelling on various foreign species, which, if not truly 
belonging to the genus Columba, are barely separable therefrom. 
Of these examples may be found in the Indian, Ethiopian, and 
Neotropical Regions. Still less can we here enter upon the in- 
numerable other forms, though they may be entitled to the name 
of “ Dove,” which are to be found in almost every part of the 
world, and nowhere more abundantly than in the Australian 
Region. Mr. Wallace (bis, 1865, pp. 365-400) considers that they 
attain their maximum development in the Papuan Subregion, 
where, though the land-area is less than one-sixth that of Europe, 
more than a quarter of all the species (Some 300 in number) known 
to exist are found—owing, he suggests, to the absence of forest- 
haunting and fruit-eating Mammals. 
It would, however, be impossible to conclude this article with- 
out noticing a small group of birds to which in some minds the 
name Dove will seem especially applicable. This is the group 
containing the Turtle-Doves—the time-honoured emblem of tender- 
ness and conjugal love. The common Turtle-Dove of Europe, 
Turtur communis or auritus, is one of those species which is gradu- 
ally extending its area. In England, not much more than a 
century ago, it seems to have been chiefly, if not solely, known in 
the southern and western counties. Though in the character of a 
strageler only, it now reaches the extreme north of Scotland, and 
is perhaps nowhere more abundant than in many of the midland 
and eastern counties of England. On the continent the same thing 
has been observed, though indeed not so definitely ; and this species 
has within the last forty years or so appeared as a casual visitor 
within the Arctic Circle. The probable causes of its extension 
cannot here be discussed ; and there is no need to dwell upon its 
graceful form and the delicate harmony of its modest colouring, for 
they are proverbial. The species is migratory, reaching Europe 
late in April and retiring in September. Another species, and one 
perhaps better known from being commonly kept in confinement, 
is that called by many the Collared or Barbary Dove, 7. risorius— 
the second English name possibly indicating that it was by way of 
that country that it was brought to us, for it is not an African 
bird. This is distinguished by its cream-coloured plumage and 
black necklace. Some uncertainty seems to exist about its original 
home, but it is found from Constantinople to India, and is abundant 
in the Holy Land, though there a third species, 7. senegalensis, also 
