170 TURTLE DOVE. 



Dove, on the branches. In a domestic state, the Pigeon 

 breeds eight or nine times in the year ; and it has been 

 observed, that though only two eggs are laid each time, 

 the increase of the species is so rapid and prodigious, 

 that, at the expiration of four years, the produce and 

 descendants of a single pair might amount to nearly 

 fifteen thousand. The male and female sit by turns upon 

 the eggs, and each of them is employed in collecting 

 subsistence for, and in feeding, their callow young. 

 These birds are gregarious, or collect into flocks ; and 

 their voice is a plaintive, but, at the same time, soft and 

 pleasing sound. 



Ring-Dove. These birds delight in thick and impene- 

 trable woods ; building their nests upon the trees, and 

 principally of dried sticks and grass. They assemble in 

 flocks at the commencement of winter, but separate into 

 pairs during the breeding-season, when they begin to utter 

 their cooing noise. 



The Ring-Dove is the largest of all the English pigeons. 

 It is distinguished from the other species, by being of a 

 cinereous colour; having its tail-feathers blackish towards 

 the extemity; the quill-feathers of the wings whitish on 

 the outer edge; and a white and somewhat crescent- 

 shaped mark on each side of the neck. 



Turtle Dove. The mutual attachment of the male and 

 female of this species is such, that if a pair of them be put 

 together into a cage, and one of them die, it is said the 

 other will never long survive. It is from this circum- 

 stance, that they have become proverbial for conjugal 

 affection. They are of a shy and retired disposition, 

 breeding in the midst of woods, and, for this operation, 

 selecting the most secluded situations. In England, they 





