a simple platform of a few twigs, and is, to my know- 

 ledge, frequently completed in two days : the favourite 

 sites in the locality with which I am best acquainted are 

 our old whitethorn trees and willows, but the nest may 

 be often found in fir-plantations, hazel-copse, and other 

 places, generally well concealed, and at no great height 

 from the ground, though there are occasional exceptions 

 to both of these rules. The flight of this bird is rapid 

 and extremely graceful, and in " twisting " when pur- 

 sued by a bird of prey, the Turtle Dove is at least equal 

 to what Dove-slayers call the " Blue-Rock." The food 

 of this Dove consists of seeds of many kinds and the 

 leaves of clover and vetches ; turnip-seed is, I think, 

 its favourite diet, it will also devour the berries of the 

 mountain- ash. 



These birds generally leave us before the middle of 

 September, and sometimes congregate to a certain 

 extent before their departure. In all parts of the 

 Mediterranean coasts with which I am acquainted the 

 Turtle Dove is a very common summer migrant, but I 

 never met with it anywhere in such abundance as in 

 Cyprus, during the month of May. A great many of 

 this species have come aboard of my yacht in the 

 Mediterranean in stiff breezes at various times during 

 their vernal migrations, and I have seen more than one 

 fall exhausted into the sea, after flying about us for some 

 time, apparently afraid to alight. In Spain the passage 

 of the Turtle Dove is awaited and attended upon by 

 native sportsmen with nearly as much eagerness as that 

 of the Quail, and in the neighbourhood of Seville a very 

 great number are annually killed in spring by persons 



