PERSIAN TURTLE-DOVE 189 



Yarkand, and wandering into Gilgit, whence there are two specimens in the 

 British Museum Collection. 



If arenicola, the Persian Turtle-Dove, is considered identical with the 

 north African Turtle-Dove, then its range must be further extended to 

 Algeria in the east and Shoa in the south. 



Nidification. In Stray Feathers Scully gives an interestiag account 

 of this Dove's nesting. He writes : " The Turtle-Dove is a seasonal visitant 

 to the Plains of Eastern Turkestan, arriving in May and migrating towards 

 the end of September or beginning of October ; it was never observed in 

 winter. This Dove frequents trees and orchards ; and in May and June 

 its beautiful, soft, musical note could be heard every day about the neighbour- 

 hood of Yarkand. It lays in May and June, and on the 15th of the latter 

 month I saw two very young nestlings of this species. I found a nest of 

 this species ; it was a loose kind of cup, composed of twigs and placed in the 

 fork of a willow-tree about seven feet from the ground. It contained only 

 one egg, the contents of which were found to be quite fluid ; the female bird 

 was sitting on the nest at the time and only flew away when I got close to it. 

 On the 12th June a nest of the Turtle-Dove, containing two eggs, was placed 

 in a thorn-bush. On the 25th June I found another nest, containing one 

 egg — much incubated to judge by the colour. A thick main branch of a 

 willow-tree had been cut off, and on the horizontal face of this cut stump, 

 which was slightly concave, a few twigs were arranged in a concentric manner 

 forming a thin shallow cup in which the eggs rested. The twigs of this 

 bedding were so loosely put together that the wood of the tree could be seen 

 through them. 



" The three eggs of this Dove, which I have, are pure white and glossy. 

 They may be described as a regular oval, a somewhat pointed oval, and a 

 longish narrow oval. They measure 1.36 by 0.91 ; 1.28 by 0.9; and 1.18 

 by 0.89. Average of the three eggs, 1.27 in length by 0.9 in breadth." 



There are a good many eggs of this subspecies from Persia in the British 

 Museum Collection, taken by W. Cumming at Fao in the Persian Gulf on 

 the 16th and 22nd of May. They cannot be in any way distinguished from 

 the eggs of the Common Turtle-Dove. 



The habits, flight, voice, and food of the Persian Dove do not appear 

 to differ in any way from those of the European Dove but, owing to 

 its not being differentiated from that bird, little has been placed on 

 record concerning it. 



