TURTLE DOVE 



93 



In this part of Pennsylvania they commence building about 

 the beginning of May. The nest is very rudely constructed, ge- 

 nerally 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 brood 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 ten- 

 derness of its fiesh, and the sport of shooting, overcome all other 

 considerations. About the commencement of frost they begin to 

 move off* to the south; numbers, however, remain in Pennsylvania 

 during the whole winter. 



Tlie 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 blue; back, scapulars and lesser wing coverts ashy 

 brown ; tertials spotted with black : primaries edged and tipt with 

 white ; forehead, sides of the neck and breast, a pale brown vinous 

 orange ; under the ear feathers a spot or drop of deep black ; im- 

 mediately below which the plumage reflects the most vivid tints of 

 green, gold and crimson; chin pale yellow ochre; belly and vent 

 whitish; legs and feet coral red, seamed with white; the tail is long 

 and cuneiform, consisting of fourteen feathers; the four exterior 

 ones on each side are marked with black about an inch from the 

 tips, and white thence to the extremity ; the next has less of the 

 white at the tip ; these gradually lengthen to the four middle ones, 

 which are wholly dark slate; all of them taper towards the points, 

 the two middle ones most so. 



VOL. v. A a 



