44 FRIENDS WORTH KNOWING. 



thought the builders exercised a distinct preference for 

 the situation, as making them safer from the attack of 

 hawks. 



Not an uncommon bird, hopping down between the rails 

 to pick up the grain dropped from the freight-trains, was 

 the turtle-dove, which was an old acquaintance of mine in 

 the West, but which is rare in New England. They were 

 very wary, uttered no note, and came with the silence of 

 ghosts. If I only stirred when they were near, whir ! away 

 went my doves, straight and swift as an arrow, spreading 

 their white-edged tails. 



A portion of the following summer I spent on the Little 

 Kanawha, and many a day was I entertained by the notes 

 of the turtle-dove floating down from a hill-top as I thread- 

 ed my way through the woods. Among the most common 

 of birds in West Virginia, the people yet regarded it with 

 affection, and made as great a disturbance if one was shot 

 as they would at the shooting of a house -pigeon. They 

 were jealous of the few purple martins they had in the 

 same degree. Why it is called the turtle-dove I do not 

 know. Probably because of its kinship with the turtle- 

 dove of Europe; but this only puts the difficulty one step 

 farther back. Its other name mourning-dove is more 

 characteristic ; for its song, if it may be called such, is a 



