CAROLINA TLTRTLE DOVE. 93 



from considerable distances. A few individuals sometimes mix with the 

 Wild Pigeons, as do the latter sometimes with the Doves. 



The Turtle Dove may with propriety be considered more as a gleaner 

 than as a reaper of the husbandman's fields, scarcely ever committing any 

 greater depredation than the picking up a few grains in seed-time, after 

 which it prefers resorting to those fields from which the grain has been 

 cut and removed. It is a hardy bird, and stands the severest winters of 

 our Middle States, where some remain the whole year. 



The flesh of these birds is remarkably fine, when they are obtained 

 young and in the proper season. Such birds become extremely fat, are 

 tender and juicy, and in flavour equal in the estimation of some of my 

 friends, as well as in my own, to that of the Snipe or even the Woodcock ; 

 but as taste in such matters depends much on circumstances, and perhaps 

 on the whim of individuals, I would advise you, reader, to try for your- 

 self. These birds require good shooting to bring them down, when on 

 wing, for they fly with great swiftness, and not always in a direct manner. 

 It is seldom that more than one can be killed at a shot when they are fly- 

 ing, and rarely more than two or three when on the ground, on account 

 of their natural propensity to keep apart. 



In winter, they approach the farm-houses, feed among the Poultry, 

 Sparrows, Grakles, and many other birds, and appear very gentle ; but no 

 sooner are they frequently disturbed or shot at, than they become ex- 

 tremely shy. When raised from the nest, they are easily tamed. I have 

 even known some instances of their breeding in confinement. When 

 caught in traps and cooped, they feed freely, and soon become fat, when 

 they are excellent for the table. ^ 



When shot, or taken alive in the hand, this and our other species of 

 Pigeon, lose the feathers on the slightest touch, a circumstance peculiar 

 to the genus, and to certain gallinaceous birds. 



The Stuartia Malacodendron, on which I have placed the two pairs 

 alluded to at the commencement of this article, is a tree of small height, 

 which grows in rich grounds at the foot of hills not far from water-courses. 

 The wood is brittle and useless, the flower destitute of scent, but extreme- 

 ly agreeable to the eye. Little clusters of twenty or thirty of these trees 

 are dispersed over the southernmost of the United States. I have never 

 met with it in the Middle, Western or Northern Districts. 



