THE TURTLE DOVE 



when this pretty bird will regularly resort to the larger 

 parks, especially where thickets and shrubberies abound. 

 Greater precautions, however, will have to be taken against 

 prowling cats, and the hordes of rats that infest these 

 places and constitute the greatest danger to the wild 

 birds frequenting them. The Turtle Dove leaves this 

 country for the south in September. It is a shy and 

 retiring bird, delighting to conceal itself amongst the 

 foliage of trees and tall hedges, from which its pleasant 

 cooing cry sounds most persistently during early summer. 

 It visits the ground to feed, walking about with the usual 

 bobbing gait of its kind, but at the least alarm hurries 

 off with a rattle of wings to the nearest cover. Its food 

 consists of grain and seeds, small fruits and berries, and 

 the tender shoots of clover and other plants. In some 

 of its London haunts, especially in grounds where it is 

 left unmolested, I have often noticed that much of its 

 usual wariness and timidity have disappeared. I saw a 

 pair on one occasion near Hendon flying about a large 

 garden almost as tame as Doves kept in confinement. 

 The note is pleasing, full-toned, and soft, a guttural 

 coo-r-r-r coo, oft repeated, and in the love season modu- 

 lated in various ways. It commences breeding soon after 

 its arrival, and as eggs may be found from May to August 

 in some cases at least more than one brood must be reared 

 in the season. The flat, wicker-like platform that serves 

 for a nest is built in tall bushes and dense hedgerows 

 in preference to high trees. It is made of slender dry 

 twigs, and is so slightly put together that the eggs may 

 often be seen through it from below. These are two in 

 number, and creamy white. As autumn comes on the 

 Turtle Dove becomes more or less gregarious, and flocks 

 of various size frequent the stubbles, turnip-fields, and 

 weed-grown pastures, and migrate without disbanding. 

 These flocks now wander about a good deal, but often 

 return to certain favourite places to roost. 



259 



