220 
OUR HOME BIRDS. 
season.’ The bird has four notes, all of the saddest 
description, being a series of sighing, moaning, and 
wailing ; and these melancholy sounds usually come 
from the deepest and 
most shaded parts of 
the woods, and are 
heard oftenest about 
noon and toward 
evening. But, in- 
stead of being in dis- 
tress, the turtle-dove 
is only calling to his 
Fig. 19 .—Carolina Turtle-Dove. mate, Or talking to 
her in tenderest accents as she sits beside him, for 
the mutual attachment of a pair of turtle-doves has 
become proverbial, and this is their way of show- 
ing it. 
“ They come North in March or April, and dis- 
perse over the country, being sometimes seen three 
and four together, but more frequently only two. A 
pair of them will appear in the farmer’s yard before 
the door, the stable, barn, and other outhouses in 
search of food, seeming almost as familiar as 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. 
