TURTLE-DOVE. 411 



TURTUR AURITUS. 

 TURTLE-DOVE. 



(PLATE 17.) 



Columba turtur, Briss. Orn. i. p. 92 (1760) ; Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 284 (1766). 



Columba turtur lusitanus, Bris*. Orn. i. p. 98 (1760). 



Peristera turtur (Briss.), Boie, Isis, 1828, p. 327. 



Peristera tenera, Brehm, Vog. Deutschl. p. 494 (1831). 



Turtur communis, Selby, Nat. Libr. Orn. v. pp. 153, 171J1835) *. 



Turtur vulgaris, Eyton, Cat. Brit. B. p. 32 (1836). 



Turtur auritus, Gray, Gen. B. ii. p. 472 (1844) ; et auctorum plurimorum 



Temminck, Bonaparte, Degland 8f Gei'be, Cabanis, Salvadori, Huppell, Heuglin, 



Hartlaub, Gould, Shelley, Salvin, Tristram, Gurney, &c. 

 Turtur migratorius, Selby, fide Sclater, Jardine's Contr. Orn. ii. p. 126 (1852). 



Unlike the true Pigeons the Turtle-Dove leaves our islands on the 

 approach of winter; but during the breeding-season it is generally distri- 

 buted throughout England and Wales, becoming rarer in Cornwall, in the 

 wilder Welsh counties, and north of South Yorkshire. In Scotland it is 

 only known as an accidental straggler on migration ; but in Ireland it is 

 paid to breed sparingly. It has occurred once in Orkney, and passes the 

 Shetland Islands regularly in spring and autumn ; but has not been re- 

 corded from the Outer Hebrides. 



The Turtle-Dove is a summer visitor to the Western Palsearctic Region. 

 On the Faroes its appearance is only accidental; but in Denmark and 

 Scandinavia it appears to be irregularly distributed throughout the forest 

 country. In Russia it has not been known to occur north of lat. 60. 

 East of the Urals it is a summer visitor to Turkestan (as far east as the 

 Altai Mountains, Yarkand, and Gilgit), Afghanistan, Persia, and Asia 

 Minor. It is a summer visitor to Central and Southern Europe, and in 

 Palestine and North Africa as far south as Abyssinia it is principally 



* The nomenclature of this bird exhibits perhaps more strongly than any other the 

 evils of the Stricklandian Code. For many years the Turtle-Dove enjoyed undisturbed 

 the name of Turtur auritus. Dresser, in his ' Birds of Europe,' however, adopts the name 

 of Turtur vulyuris, ignoring the prior name of Brehm's, and placing a query in front of it 

 in order to satisfy his conscience and justify his adoption of the later name. This is a 

 case of " voluntary inaccuracy " for which the Stricklandian Code must be held responsible. 

 Saunders, in his continuation of Newton's ' Yarrell,' rakes up another name, and calls the 

 Turtle-Dove Turtur communis. Let us hope that his ignorance of German induced him 

 blindly to follow Dresser in ignoring Brehm's earlier name. According to the rules of 

 the British Association the name of the Turtle-Dove is Turtur tenera (Brehm). 



