140 BRITISH BIRDS' EGGS. 



present remarkable deviations from the original type, while 

 in the " Jacobin" the feathers are reversed, and turn over 

 as a cowl on the back of the head and neck. 



THE TURTLE DOVE. Turtur migratorius. " The Turtle 

 Dove/' writes Sir W. Jardine, "may be considered as a 

 species entirely southern ; the instances of its capture in 

 the northern counties of England, or in one or two instances 

 in Scotland or Ireland, being only those of stray birds, 

 which, from some cause or other, have exceeded the limit 

 of their migration.'" It arrives in those parts of Britain 

 which it frequents, about the end of April or beginning of 

 May, and leaves again in August or September. The food 

 of this species consists of green wheat, with peas, rape, mus- 

 tard-seed, hemp-seed, etc. 



The nest is a slight platform of twigs, placed occasionally 

 but a little distance above the ground (one which we saw 

 during the present year being not more than five or six feet 

 above it) ; and the eggs, which are very much smaller than 

 those of either of the previously named species of the pre- 

 sent family, are white, and two in number. In summer the 

 Turtle Dove is spread over southern and temperate Europe 

 and various parts of Asia, but it is believed to winter in 

 Africa. 



