OF THE BIRDS MENTIONED 219 
on some convenient and suitable platform. Approach 
to nest is often through a narrow crevice. Keturns 
to nesting spot year after year (like others of the 
swallow family). Second nests: Only one _ brood 
yearly. Male and female alike. Eggs: Pure white, 
shells rough, long oval shaped (peculiar). Two or three. 
19. TURTLE-DOVE 
(Pages 63-67) 
Turtur communis. (Lat., Turtur, a turtle-dove, from 
its cooing ‘ tur tur’ like notes, and communis, common ; 
but it is much rarer than the stock-dove and ring-dove, 
and is migratory, arriving in end of April, and leaving 
in September). See also Stock-dove (Synopsis 16) 
and Ring-dove (Synopsis 22). Its smaller size and 
general blackish-brown plumage at once distin- 
guish it from the other pigeons, viz., wings rusty-red 
brown, with a black spot on each feather ; besides this 
its distinctive features are : Some neck feathers are black 
tipped white, belly white, tail much rounded, dusky 
brown, white beneath (the white being well seen when 
the tail is expanded, as just before reaching a perch). 
Eyes: Yellow. Bill: Brown. Habits: Only a nest- 
ing pair seen together, or a few (mostly parents and 
young) in autumn. Male and female: Alike. Food: 
Like other pigeons, grain, peas, beans, etc. Flight : 
