THE TURTLE-DOVE. 

 Turtur communis, Selby. 

 Plate 53. 



This beautiful little dove, the smallest of our British species, is a common 

 summer visitant to England, being more plentiful in the southern, eastern, and 

 midland counties than in other parts. It is rare in Scotland, where it has never 

 been known to breed, and although also scarce in Ireland, it is said to have nested 

 there. 



The Turtle-Dove is found during summer over the greater part of Europe and 

 also in Western Asia, whilst in winter it retires to Africa. It arrives in England 

 about the end of April or early in May, where its presence is soon revealed by its 

 pleasing though rather monotonous love-notes. 



The food consists of various seeds, including those of weeds, as well as the 

 leaves of plants. 



The nest, which is nothing more than a lightly constructed platform of twigs, 

 containing the two white eggs, is built in tall hedges or on trees. In my own 

 neighbourhood, where the bird is common, I have more often found it in young 

 larches than in others, but have seen it among old furze-bushes overgrown with 

 brambles. 



When the female is sitting, her mate often perches not far off on the bare bough 

 of some favourite tree. At times he will leave his perch and fly upwards till a 

 certain height is reached, when, stretching out his wings and sailing downwards 

 with a gliding motion, he again alights. On ordinary occasions the flight is very 

 swift and direct. 



An example of the Rufous Turtle-Dove, Turtur orientalis, an immature bird, 

 was obtained near Scarborough, Yorkshire, in October 1889. It inhabits south- 

 eastern Siberia, eastwards to Korea and Japan, and southwards to China and 

 India. 



This species is larger and darker than our bird, and has the light edges of the 

 black feathers on the collar of an ashy-blue instead of white. 



Several examples of the American Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistes 7nigyatorius, 



have been obtained in Great Britain, but these, no doubt, had escaped from captivity. 



I may mention here that this species is now quite extinct, the last of her race, a 



very old bird, having died recently in captivity. 



m. 65 I 



