Plate XXIV. 
ZEH/EDURA CAROUNENSIS— Carolina Dove. 
The Turtle Dove is an exceedingly hardy bird ; swift on the wing, well clothed with an abundance 
of compact feathers, and very tenacious of life, they brave our coldest winters. At any time of the 
year, when the weather is not too severe, nidification may occur, but the majority of nests are of course 
constructed during the summer months. I have seen Doves sitting on fresh eggs in every month 
except December and January ; and I have no doubt but that they build nests and lay eggs occasionally 
during these months in mild winters. How many broods a single pair rears during a year I do not 
know, but imagine the number varies, according to circumstances, from two to four. 
LOCALITY: 
Like the liobin they build almost any place and every place. Cultivated fields and thick woods, 
river-bottoms and springless hill-sides, country roads and village streets, are each and all common 
localities. The usual site is a tree; but in the early and late months, when the foliage is sparse or 
absent, the nest is often placed upon the ground in a pasture, plowed field, or prairie; or upon a stump 
in the woods, the rail of a worm-fence, the top of a straw-stack; or in the loft of a barn or cattle 
stable ; or some such place where protection and warmth are to be secured. Thorn-trees and hedges 
also furnish sites for the early nests, while apple-trees and evergreens in country and town yards are 
favorite trees in the summer. 
POSITION: ' ,\ 
The position of the nest when built in a tree is variable, sometimes it is placed upon a large hori- 
zontal limb against the main trunk; this is especially the case when in a thorn-tree or elm. Sometimes 
it rests upon two branches close to the bifurcation from the main limb. Sometimes it rests upon a 
small branch, and is prevented from tipping over by slender twigs which grow out from either side. 
Sometimes it is built upon a platform of tangled vine-stems and twigs. Its distance from the ground 
varies from three to thirty feet ; usually it is about six or eight feet. When not placed in a tree, the 
nest is situated upon some horizontal plane, such as is afforded by the ground, a shelf, or a beam. 
MATERIALS : 
Dried twigs, weed-stems and roots, grape-vine tendrils, old leaves, leaf-stems from the walnut and 
other trees, straws, and blue-grass, in various proportions, are the common materials of construction. 
Some nests are composed entirely of roots having long slender fibres; others entirely of weed-stems and 
twigs; and still others are made of straws and grasses alone. But usually when the nest is in a tree, 
most if not all the materials mentioned above are combined in it. When the bird selects a stump, the 
ground, or a straw-stack for the site, frequently no nest is prepared, the eggs being deposited upon the 
stump, ground, or straw, as the case may be. If a fence-rail or rafter is the chosen place, a nest 
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