40 



upper tail-coverts and the two central rectrices clove-brown, the remaining tail-feathers blackish brown 

 with a blue tinge, broadly tipped with white, the outer feather on each side having the outer web white ; 

 quills dark brown; larger wing-coverts and the external smaller coverts pale dove-blue, remaining 

 wing-coverts and scapulars blackish brown very broadly margined with bright rufous ; sides of the head 

 and neck ashy blue, becoming rosy vinous on the chin and throat ; on the lower part of the side of the 

 neck are four rows of black feathers tipped with white, forming four oblique bars ; lower throat and 

 breast rosy vinous, gradually fading into white towards the abdomen and under tail-coverts, which are 

 pure white, flanks slightly washed with ashy blue; beak brown; iris reddish brown; bare skin about the 

 eye red; legs coral-red. Total length about 11*5 inches, culmen 08, wing 7 - 0, tail 4 - 8, tarsus 0'85. 



Adult Female. Resembles the male, but is a trifle less in size, and has the colours of the plumage less pure. 



Young (Surrey, 19th August). Upper parts much browner than in the adult, the prevailing colour being 

 brownish ash, not ashy blue ; quills margined and tipped with rufous, and the rufous margins to the 

 coverts and scapulars broader and duller ; no dark feathers on the side of the neck ; throat and breast 

 dull pale ash, the lower throat washed with bufify brown; flanks bluish grey; rest of the underparts 

 white. 



The Turtle Dove inhabits Europe generally, except in the colder portions, where it is only known 

 as a rare straggler ; it is a summer visitant throughout the continent, migrating southward into 

 Africa in the autumn. To the eastward it extends into Western Asia, and has been met with in 

 Yarkahd ; but in Siberia and Eastern Asia it is replaced by an allied species, the Siberian Turtle 

 Dove. 



In Great Britain it is tolerably common in the southern counties, but becomes rarer towards 

 the north. Mr. A. G. More (Ibis, 1865, p. 142) defines its breeding-range as follows: — "Breeds 

 in South Devon occasionally, and in Somerset; regularly in Gloucester, and perhaps also in 

 Pembroke ; regularly in Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Stafford ; in the last two counties it is 

 rare ; in Derbyshire occasionally (Mr. J. J. Briggs) ; in Cheshire very rarely (Mr. J. F. Brockholes), 

 and in the south of Yorkshire (Mr. Reid). To the east and south of this line the Turtle Dove nests 

 in all the midland and southern counties, but is described as rare in Lincolnshire. Dr. Heysham 

 records that a young bird was once taken in Cumberland, where the species is very rarely seen ; 

 and the Rev. H. B. Tristram tells me that the nest has once been found as far north as Durham. 

 Yarrell says that the Turtle Dove is found in Lancashire, and is not uncommon in Cornwall ; but 

 I have not been able to obtain any evidence of its breeding in either of these counties. It seems 

 also safer to consider the locality of South AYales uncertain for the present." 



In Scotland it has been met with in most of the counties, but can only be looked on as a 

 rare straggler; and Mr. Robert Gray writes (B. of W. of Scotl. p. 223) as follows: — "All the 

 specimens that have come under my own observation have been procured in autumn and spring. 

 It has occurred perhaps more numerously in Wigtownshire than elsewhere on the west side ; it 

 has likewise been met with in Ayrshire and Dumbartonshire ; and, in the Hebrides, specimens 

 have been shot in Islay and Skye." Messrs. Baikie and Heddle record the occurrence of one on 

 Holm, in Orkney, in 1850 ; and Mr. Saxby says it occurs in spring and autumn almost every 

 year in the gardens of Shetland, especially at Halligarth. In Ireland, Thompson says it is an 

 occasional, almost an annual, visitant to cultivated districts in some parts of the island. 



