TURTLE DOVE. 59 



from thirty to forty feet high ; and in this tree, at a dis- 

 tance of ten or twenty feet from the ground, the nest is 

 placed on a small branch, well hidden amongst the foliage. 

 The nest itself is composed of a handful of thin dried 

 branches, taken off the trees near the one where the nest is 

 situated, and heaped one upon another, in such a loose and 

 shapeless manner, that the eggs may plainly be seen through 

 it. About the middle of May the female deposits her two 

 white eggs, which are hatched after sixteen or seventeen days' 

 incubation. The young are at first covered with a yellow 

 down, and, owing to the thickness of their beaks, have for 

 some time a very unsightly appearance. They usually sit 

 side by side in the nest, awaiting the arrival of their parents 

 with food ; and if the weather should be raw and cold, the 

 female will keep them warm both night and day. They 

 shift for themselves soon after leaving the nest, and the 

 parents make arrangements for a second brood ; and a third 

 brood is frequently produced by the same birds during the 

 summer. 



The Turtle Dove is the smallest of our pigeons, and is 

 consequently easily distinguished when on the wing from 

 either of the foregoing species. In length this bird measures 

 from twelve inches to twelve inches and a half; and the 

 wings, from the carpus to the tip, seven inches and a quarter. 

 The tail has a rounded appearance, owing to the outer 

 feathers being half an inch shorter than the middle ones. 

 The beak is small, weak, and straight, much compressed 

 about the middle, and the tip is of a hard substance : it is 

 nine lines in length, black in colour, reddish about the base, 

 with a white dusky appearance about the nostrils. The inside 

 of the beak and the tongue are flesh-red. The nostrils are 

 narrow slits. The eyelids are lilac, and the region about 

 them is naked, warty, and of a carmine-red, more coloured 

 in the male than in the female, and not to be seen in the 



