TURTLE DOVE PASSENGER PIGEON. 223 



THE TURTLE DOVE. 

 COLUMBA TURTUR. 



ALTHOUGH the Turtle Dove has been found in most of the counties 

 in Scotland, it can only be ranked as a straggler. All the speci- 

 mens that have come under my own observation have been pro- 

 cured in autumn or spring. It has occurred, perhaps, more 

 numerously in Wigtownshire than elsewhere on the west side : it 

 has likewise been met with in Ayrshire* and Dumbartonshire. 

 In the Hebrides, specimens have been shot in Islay and Skye, 

 but in the outer islands, as might be expected, none have yet 

 turned up. A specimen of an allied species Turtur Egyptiacus 

 evidently an escaped bird, was caught in an exhausted state at 

 Scolpeg, North Uist, on 20th October, 1866, as I have been in- 

 formed by Mr John M'Donald, Newton. 



Dr Saxby mentions three instances of the occurrence of the 

 Turtle Dove in Shetland; and in addition to the specimen recorded 

 in their work, a note in manuscript by Messrs Baikie and Heddle 

 states that one was got on Holm, in Orkney, in 1850. 



On the east and north of Scotland, I have myself seen this 

 bird in a wild state in East Lothian, Aberdeenshire, Banffshire, 

 and Moray shire. 



THE PASSENGER PIGEON. 

 ECTOPISTES MIGRATORIUS. 



THE late Dr Fleming mentions in his 'History of British Animals/ 

 that a specimen of this bird was shot at Monymeal, in Fifeshire, 

 on 31st December, 1825, and that the specimen was in his posses- 

 sion. It showed no traces of having been in confinement. 



In Yarrell's work it is stated that a second British specimen was 

 obtained in Hertfordshire in July, 1844, and another seen near 

 Tring in the same county by the Rev. Mr Williams. Besides 

 these examples, I learned last year (1869) that another had been 

 shot in Berwickshire by the late Earl of Haddington, regarding 



* When visiting the town of Kilmarnock in October, 1870, Mr Eaton, bird- 

 stuffer there, showed me an Ayrshire specimen, and informed me that almost 

 every season Turtle Doves, shot in the county, are sent to him for preservation. 



