262 TURTLE DOVE. 



South Carolina, and their corresponding parallels, in great numbers, 

 during the winter. On the second of February, in the neighborhood 

 of Newbern, North Carolina, I saw a flock of Turtle Doves of many 

 hundreds ; in other places, as I advanced farther south, particularly 

 near the Savannah river, in Georgia, the woods were swarming with 

 them, and the whistling of their wings was heard in every direction. 



On their return to the north in March, and early in April, they 

 disperse so generally over the country, that there are rarely more than 

 three or four seen together, most frequently only two. Here they 

 commonly fly in pairs, resort constantly to the public roads, to dust 

 themselves, and procure gravel ; are often seen in the farmer's yard, 

 before the door, the stable, barn, and other outhouses, in search of food, 

 seeming little inferior in familiarity at such times to the domestic 

 Pigeon. They often mix with the poultry, while they are fed in the 

 morning, visit the yard and adjoining road many times a day, and the 

 pump, creek, horse-trough and rills for water. 



Their flight is quick, vigorous, and always accompanied by a peculiar 

 whistling of the wings, by which they can easily be distinguished from 

 the Wild Pigeon. They fly with great swiftness, alight on trees, fences, 

 or on the ground indiscriminately ; are exceedingly fond of buckwheat, 

 hempseed, and Indian corn ; feed on the berries of the holly, the dog- 

 wood and poke, huckleberries, partridgeberries, and the small acorns 

 of the live oak, and shrub oak. They devour large quantities of gravel, 

 and sometimes pay a visit to the kitchen garden for peas, for which they 

 have a particular regard. 



In this part of Pennsylvania they commence building about the be- 

 ginning of May. The nest is very rudely constructed, generally in an 

 evergreen — among the thick foliage of a vine — in an orchard, on the 

 horizontal branches of an apple-tree, and in some cases on the ground. 

 It is composed of a handful of small twigs, laid with little art, on which 

 are scattered dry fibrous roots of plants, and in this almost flat bed are 

 deposited two eggs, of a snowy whiteness. The male and female unite 

 in feeding the young, and they have rarely more than two broods in the 

 same season. 



The flesh of this bird is considered much superior to that of the Wild 

 Pigeon ; but its seeming confidence in man, the tenderness of its notes, 

 and the innocency attached to its character, are with many its security 

 and protection ; with others, however, the tenderness of its flesh, and 

 the sport of shooting, overcome all other considerations. About the 

 commencement of frost, they begin to move ofi" to the south ; numbers, 

 however, remain in Pennsylvania during the whole winter. 



The Turtle Dove is twelve inches long, and seventeen inches in extent ; 

 bill black ; eye of a glossy blackness, surrounded with a pale greenish 

 blue skin ; crown, upper part of the neck and wings a fine silky slate 



