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THE TURTLE-DOVE. 



Turtur communis Selby. 



The arrival of this species appears to have taken place chiefly 

 in Hampshire and Sussex, and, in a lesser degree, in Kent. 

 All the birds wrhich reached Essex seem to have passed on 

 from these counties. The only records from Dorset were 

 received from the eastern part of the county, on the 

 Hampshire border ; only one record was received from 

 Devon and a few stragglers were observed in Cornwall. 



Between the ith and the 22nd of April the first stragglers 

 appeared in the south-eastern counties, and single birds were 

 recorded in Devon, Suffolk, Oxfordshire, Hertfordshire and 

 (Cheshire. 



The first immigration of importance took place in Hamp- 

 shire on the 19th, 23rd and 24th of April. During the five 

 following days those individuals, together with the first 

 stragglers, spread over England as far north as Yorkshire, 

 but did not reach Wales. Flocks continued to arrive at 

 intervals of a few days until the 24th of May, by which 

 date the passage had concluded and the earlier arrivals 

 had settled down in their customary haunts and commenced 

 to nest. 



The earliest records of nests with eggs were received from 

 Sussex on the 8th of May and from Norfolk on the 9th ; 

 likewise from Surrey on the 15th, from Dorset on the 

 22nd and from Norfolk on the 2;5i'd of May. 



The Turtle-Dove was not recorded by the observers in 

 Derbyshire, Carnarvon, the Isle of Man, Westmoreland^ 

 Durham and Northumberland. 



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