Columbce 167 



distinct black wing-bars. All have a blackish tip to 

 the tail ; in all the sexes are similar. 



The Turtle-dove {Streptopelia turtur) has been grad- 

 ually extending its range in our islands to the north- 

 ward, and now breeds sparingly up to the Borderland. 

 It is very abundant in our eastern counties and fairly 

 plentiful on the west, arriving in very late April or 

 May and leaving about September. It flies quickly 

 for moderate distances, has a coo which sounds in the 

 distance like the purring of a cat, and feeds upon grain, 

 peas, seeds of weeds, and the like. After breeding 

 it flocks to the stubbles. The nest is very slight and 

 generally to be f ornid in hedges, bushes, or low trees ; 

 the eggs are often more pointed than is usual in the 

 Family and shghtly cream-coloured. The bird itself is 

 in both sexes brown with greyer head, neck, and rump ; 

 the lower parts are wine-coloured, the tip of the tail, 

 very conspicuous in flight, is white, and there is a patch 

 of black feathers tipped with white on each side of the 

 neck. On migration the Turtle-dove has even occurred 

 in Shetland and Lapland, but it normally breeds from 

 about the Baltic to Turkestan as well as to the south 

 of Europe, Madeira, the Canaries and Egypt. Its range 

 overlaps that of other similar species, such as the Asiatic 

 Turtle-dove, well known to us as a cage-bird. 



ORDER X. PTEROCLBTES 



The desert-loving forms included in this Order were 

 once thought to be very closely akin to Grouse, and 

 are certainly connected with them, but it now appears 

 that they come nearer to the Pigeons and the Plover 

 tribe. They have a short arched bill and short feet, 

 with toes which, in the only British species, are almost 



