18 THE GAME BIEDS AND WILD FOWL 



Genus TURTUR, or Turtle Doves. 



Type, TUBTUK AUEITUS. 



Turtur, of Selby (1835). The birds comprising the present genus are 

 characterised by their prevailing brown and non-metallic plumage, by their more 

 or less conspicuous black collar, comparatively small size, and slender, graceful 

 form. The wings are long and rather pointed; the tail is composed of twelve 

 feathers, and is graduated. The metatarsus is shorter than the middle toe, naked 

 on the upper portion, and scutellated in front. The bill is slender; nostrils basal, 

 and covered with two soft, tumid, bare substances. Three toes in front, cleft to 

 the base, one behind. 



This genus is composed of about twenty-eight species, which are confined to 

 the Eastern Hemisphere, being inhabitants of the southern Palsearctic, Ethiopian, 

 and Oriental regions, and the Austro-Malayan division of the Australian region. 

 Two species are British : one a regular summer migrant ; the other an abnormal 

 migrant. 



The Turtle Doves are dwellers in woodland districts. They are birds of 

 sustained and powerful flight, and progress on the ground by walking or running. 

 Their notes are full and soft, but with little pretension to variety or sweetness. 

 They subsist chiefly on grain and vegetable substances. Their nests are slight 

 platforms of twigs, placed in trees and bushes, and their eggs, never more than 

 two in number, are white or creamy-white, and oval. These birds pair for life. 



