262 
TURTLE DOVE. 
South Carolina, and their corresponding parallels, in great numbers, 
during the winter. On the second of February, in the neighborhood 
of Newbern, North Carolina, I saw a flock of Turtle Doves of many 
hundreds ; in other places, as I advanced farther south, particularly 
near the Savannah river, in Georgia, the woods were swarming with 
them, and the whistling of their wings was heard in every direction. 
On their return to the north in March, and early in April, they 
disperse so generally over the country, that there are rarely more than 
three or four seen together, most frequently only two. Here they 
commonly fly in pairs, resort constantly to the public roads, to dust 
themselves, and procure gravel ; are often seen in the farmer's yard, 
before the door, the stable, barn, and other outhouses, in search of food, 
seeming little inferior in familiarity at such times to the domestic 
Pigeon. They often mix with the poultry, while they are fed in the 
morning, visit the yard and adjoining road many times a day, and the 
pump, creek, horse-trough and rills for water. 
Their flight is quick, vigorous, and always accompanied by a peculiar 
whistling of the wings, by which they can easily be distinguished from 
the Wild Pigeon. They fly with great swiftness, alight on trees, fences, 
or on the ground indiscriminately ; are exceedingly fond of buckwheat, 
hempseed, and Indian corn ; feed on the berries of the holly, the dog- 
wood and poke, huckleberries, partridgeberries, and the small acorns 
of the live oak, and shrub oak. They devour large quantities of gravel, 
and sometimes pay a visit to the kitchen garden for peas, for which they 
have a particular regard. 
In this part of Pennsylvania they commence building about the be- 
ginning of May. The nest is very rudely constructed, generally 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 broods 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 tenderness of its flesh, 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. 
The 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 
