COL UMBID.^—DO VES. 



215 



TURTLE DOVE, 



A young 



all records of this species in Essex relate to either the Stock Dove or the 

 Domestic Pigeon, which is descended from the Rock Dove.] 



Turtle Dove : Turtiir communis. Locally " Little Dove." 

 A common summer visitant, arriving about the end of April and 

 leaving again in September. I be- 

 lieve it is becoming more common '^ 

 than formerly throughout the county. 



Mr. Buxton says (47. 93) it is " a con- .aSfJSM'iWi^} Mlk 



stant summer visitor [to Epping Forest.] 

 I have seen flocks of them about Waltham- 

 stow in late srmimer. Its plaintive note 

 may be frequently heard in Theydon 

 Thickets." Though usually a shy bird, I 

 have known of nests in gardens quite in 

 the town of Saffron Walden. 



Passenger Pigeon : Ectopistes 



migratorius. 



A very rare straggler to Britain from North America. 



specimen now in Walden Museum was shot between Chrishall and 



Royston in July, 1844 

 (37. iii. 27; & 38. 128). 

 Through the kindness of 

 Mr. Joseph P. Nunn,of Roy- 

 ston, I am able to state 

 that the bird was killed by 

 the late Mr. John Norman 

 of Knowns Folly Farm, 

 part of which is in Cam- 

 bridgeshire and part in 

 Essex. Mr. W. Norman 

 has assured Mr. Nunn that 

 his late father had often 

 pointed out to him the 

 exact spot where he shot 

 the bird, which was on 

 some trees to the east of 

 the farm-house. These 

 trees stand in Melbourne 

 parish, and are about 400 

 yards west of the Essex 

 boundary ; but as the bird, 

 probably, had crossed that 



boundary before being shot, and could easily have recrossed it in less 

 than half a minute's flight, I consider it justifiably included here. 



PASSENGER PIGEONS, Yb. 



