TURTLE DOVE. 301 



of ten or twelve birds, and leave this country about the 

 ond of August, and sometimes as late as the end of Sep- 

 tember, particularly in those seasons when our harvest is 

 backward. I have several times killed both adult birds 

 and the young of the year when out Partridge shooting in 

 Hertfordshire; but I have observed that these birds are 

 more numerous in the thickly-wooded parts of the middle 

 of the county of Kent than elsewhere. 



In the western counties, the Turtle Dove is found in 

 Dorsetshire, Devonshire, and is not uncommon in Cornwall. 

 Mr. Eyton says it is found in Shropshire, where it is called 

 the Wrekin Dove. It is found in Lancashire ; and is men- 

 tioned as visiting Cumberland both by Mr. Heysham and 

 Mr. Sanderson. In Ireland, Mr. Templeton says this spe- 

 cies has been seen at Cranmore and at Shane^s Castle. Sir 

 William Jardine sends me word that he once shot this bird 

 in the garden of Jardine Hall in Dumfriesshire, and in the 

 eighth volume of the Magazine of Natural History there is 

 a notice of a specimen of the Turtle Dove having been shot 

 in Perthshire in 1834, so late in the year as the 20th of 

 October. On the eastern side of England it is common in 

 Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk. The Rev. Richard Lubbock, 

 who has favoured me with many notes in reference to Birds 

 and Fishes, tells me that the Turtle Dove builds frequently 

 in fir plantations in various parts of Norfolk ; is content to 

 place its nest much nearer the ground, and in a much 

 smaller tree than the Ring Dove affects ; and mentions that 

 he has observed it breeding within half a mile of the city of 

 Norwich. This bird has been taken near Scarborough, 

 and also near York ; and Bewick mentions that a young 

 bird was shot out of a flock at Prestwick Car in Northum- 

 berland, in the month of September 1794. I do not find 

 any notice of the Turtle Dove visiting any part of Scan- 



