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TURTLE DOVE. 



Columba Turtur, LINN^US. LATHAM. 



Turtur auritus, RAY. 



Columba A Pigeon. Turtur The Turtle Dove. 



THIS beautiful bird is an inhabitant of Africa, from whence 

 it crosses to Europe, and is met with in Germany, Italy, and 

 other countries of the continent. It has been noticed also 

 in Asia in Asia Minor, the East Indies, Japan, China, and 

 the islands of the South Seas. 



The Turtle Dove breeds in Bagley wood, Berkshire, near 

 Oxford, as James Dalton, Esq., of Worcester College, has 

 informed me. In Yorkshire one was obtained some years 

 since near Halifax, and one also in 1824, 'near fair Rother- 

 ham,' not so fair in these times of smoke, as in the days of 

 yore, those of the 'Dragon of Wantley;' another was shot 

 at High Catton, near York, one seen by Arthur Strickland, 

 Esq., near Burlington, and one taken near Scarborough. It 

 is the most plentiful in the 'Eastern Counties.' In Cam- 

 bridgeshire, a few individuals of this species visit the plantations 

 in the neighbourhood of Bottisham, every spring, and it has 

 also been noticed at Stretchwood and Wood-Ditton. In 

 Norfolk, it is pretty common in the summer; as also in 

 Essex and Suffolk. In Kent, where it is the most plentiful, 

 I have seen it in the neighbourhood of Sittingbourne. A 

 few occur in Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and Cornwall; and one 

 has also been observed in Northumberland, in the autumn 

 namely, on Prestwick Car, in September, 1794, as recorded 

 by Bewick. Thomas Eyton, Esq., of Eyton, says that it is 

 found in Shropshire 'All round the Wrekin.' It has also 

 been observed in Lancashire, and even in Cumberland. 



In Scotland, Charles St. John, Esq. has twice seen a pair 

 in Morayshire, in the autumn. Sir William Jardine, Bart. 



