125 
TURTLE DOVE IN YORKSHIRE. 
SYDNEY H. SMITH. 
In recent years this species is increasing its range in Yorkshire. 
The principal district frequented by the species in England is 
defined by a line from Bristol to Holyhead, thence to the 
Wash, south to London, and then across to Bristol. In this 
way is marked out well-wooded country that is the natural 
home of a bird of this kind. Lincolnshire, Derbyshire and 
the West Riding of Yorkshire is either not wooded, or is too 
densely populated to offer suitable environment, but proceed- 
ing through mid -Yorkshire, there are plenty of arboreal 
haunts to attract the Turtle Dove ; hence the increasing 
number of records recently points to the fact that this hand- 
some little dove had begun to appreciate the attractions of 
Yorkshire. This increase may be the result of successful 
breeding on the part of pioneer pairs, the progeny of which 
are returning during the spring immigration to places where 
their early life was spent. It would be helpful if young birds 
were marked during the next few years in order to find out 
what proportion returned to the place of their birth. 
Our earliest Yorkshire records date from the time of T. 
Allis, and are dealt with in ‘ The Birds of Yorkshire and in 
1844 Allis mentions that a turtle dove had been shot near 
Halifax * some years previously.’ Evidently the species was 
rare in Yorkshire during the nineteenth century, there being 
few records, though no doubt partly due to lack of observers. 
A turtle dove was shot near Rotherham in 1824, and another 
at Teesmouth in 1837. Usually turtle doves depart in August, 
but, like landrails, odd ones occasionally outstay their summer 
visit beyond the ordinary, as ‘ The Birds of Yorkshire * 
records a turtle dove as having been shot at Beverley on 
November 18th, 1865. Apparently the farthest northerly 
range of the species is Cumberland, where it has been noted 
twice and recorded in the B.O.U. Migration Report. ' The 
Birds of Yorkshire ’ records many isolated instances of the 
occurrence of the bird in Yorkshire. 
The observations of the British Ornithologists’ Union, 
published in their Migration Reports, point to the main arrival 
of the species as occurring between May 4th and 18th, and 
stragglers keep arriving from overseas until well into June. 
The movement is almost entirely northerly, all the early 
records being from the south coast, as the following extracts 
will prove : — 
1922 Apl 1 
