THE TUETLE-DOVE. 79 



fields that abundance of food which it requires. On the con- 

 tinent it ranges into much larger latitudes, although not to 

 the extreme north or even within the Arctic circle. 



When the winds of autumn blow from the north-east or 

 east, which is always the case when the rains fall heavy on 

 the countries south of the Baltic, the migrating birds, which 

 range farther north on the continent than with us, are fre- 

 quently drifted to our eastern shores, not in straggling indi- 

 viduals, but in flocks, in the case of birds which are grega- 

 rious in their migrations. These form a sort of involuntary 

 autumnal migrants ; and as both the time and the exertion 

 spent in contending with the cross wind, are probably as great 

 as would have carried them to their journey's end with 

 favourable weather, they alight on our shores in a state of 

 great fatigue. They must, in consequence, remain for some 

 time to recruit themselves ; and if they reach the coast far to 

 the southward, and the season become very mild, some of them 

 may linger for the winter and even survive it. Before we 

 conclude, from the appearance of a specimen, or even of a 

 flock in the autumn, that a bird is a permanent resident in 

 any part of the country, we must consider the range and the 

 time of its migration on the continent, and the kind of wea- 

 ther that preceded its appearance. Our constant sojourners 

 are best seen in the winter, because then they collect from the 

 woods and wilds, and come in flocks near our habitations. 



The turtles do not come before the latter end of April, or, 

 if the season be cold, the beginning of May. But though it 

 is general among birds, that the male is the first to feel the 

 genial influence of the season, yet turtles are, in this country 

 at least, first seen in pairs. The turtles betake themselves to 

 the thick groves, build the nest, which, like that of all the 

 order, is slight and rude, hatch the two young, nurse them 

 till they are nearly fledged, and are more frequently heard than 

 seen, till the pods on the leguminous plants begin to swell. 



