THE RED TURTLE DOVE 175 



suredly, it would be a document worthy to be placed 

 side by side with Mr. Lloyd George's invective against 

 the House of Lords ! 



To describe the note of the turtle dove as a coo 

 would be to violate the truth. It is a sepulchral grunt, 

 the kind of sound one might expect of a ring dove 

 suffering from an acute sore throat. The only other bird 

 which makes a noise in any way resembling the call 

 of the turtle dove is an owl that makes itself heard 

 in India shortly after the shades of night have fallen. 

 To what species this owl belongs I know not, for it 

 is no easy matter to fix on the owner of a voice heard 

 only after dark, and the descriptions of the cries 

 of the various owls given in ornithological works are 

 anything but illuminating. The owl in question is, 

 I think, the brown fish owl (Ketupa ceylonsis), but of 

 this I am not certain. 



The red turtle dove occurs throughout India, but, 

 as in the case of the other species of dove, its distri- 

 bution appears to be capricious. It is a permanent 

 resident in the United Provinces, and,, possibly, in 

 South India, although I am inclined to think that it 

 goes north to breed. Of this I am not sure. It never 

 does to be sure of anything connected with doves ; 

 they are most unreliable birds. To give a concrete 

 instance. Having lived for two years at Lahore, 

 and having seen any number of red turtle doves 

 there during the hot weather, but not even the shadow 

 of one in the cold season, I was rash enough to assert 

 in a scientific journal : " There is no doubt that this 

 species is merely a summer visitor to Lahore." As 



