436 



British Cage Birds. 



black patch, intermingled with crescent-shaped, transverse 

 \ spots of white. The throat is pale bluish white ; the fore 

 neck and breast are pale purplish red ; the back is ashen 

 brown, deepening in colour towards the rump. The primaries 

 are an indefinite dusky blackish brown, with pale edges and 

 tips, and the secondaries bluish ash colour, edged with palish 

 red ; the smaller wing coverts are bluish grey, and the larger 

 ones russet brown, with a spot of black in the centre of each 

 feather. The abdomen, vent, thighs, and under tail coverts, 

 are white. The tail is dusky brown, tipped with white, with 

 the exception of the two central feathers ; these are entirely 

 dusky. The extreme outside feather on each side is edged 

 with white externally, and the upper coverts are brown, tinged 

 with red. The legs and feet are red. 



Habits and Breeding. — The Turtle Dove, in the wild state, 

 is found in all the southern parts of Europe and Asia, and 

 in most of the islands south of China. Specimens of this 

 bird have been brought to this country from India. In 

 England it is merely a visitant, being a bird of passage, and 

 seldom found beyond the Southern, Western, and Midland 

 Counties, although occasionally observed in Yorkshire, Durham, 

 and other Northern counties. These birds are probably most 

 plentiful in Kent, where they resort to the woods during the 

 pairing season, and pay frequent visits to the pea fields, in 

 small flocks, as soon as the peas begin to ripen. On these 

 they feed, to the annoyance of the farmers or occupiers of 

 the land, and prove rather destructive at times. 



The Turtle Dove arrives in this country about the latter 

 part of April, or beginning of May, and leaves again at the end 

 of August, or early in September, after the period of moulting 

 is over. At breeding time it inhabits dense plantations, detached 

 groves, or belts of trees, in the vicinity of cultivated lands but 

 seldom approached by human beings, preference being given to 

 districts in which pine and fir trees prevail, for in' these the 

 Turtle Dove mostly builds its nest. When these are not avail- 

 able, it resorts to beech or other trees having thick foliage. The 

 nest is composed of a few dry twigs, carelessly woven together, 

 and often very fragile, as a boisterous wind has been known to 

 blow the entire structure to pieces ; it is generally erected at a 

 good height from the ground. 



