25® Allen’s naturalist’s library. 
groves are full of their soft note, which is a rich low coor-r-r 
coor-r-r, prolonged for some time, and often modulated in 
different ways. In cultivated districts it is a very timid bird, 
and at the least alarm seeks safety amongst the trees, where, 
when perched, it is ever looking anxiously from side to side, 
as if fearful of an enemy’s approach ; but it is a very easy bird 
to shoot when feeding in open country where it is not 
molested. The food of the Turtle-Dove is chiefly composed 
of grain and small seeds; but, doubtless, like its near allies, 
the Pigeons, it varies this diet with land-shells and fruit. Like 
the rest of the Pigeons, the Turtle-Dove drinks frequently and 
regularly. It is said by some writers that it only takes fresh 
water; but Stevenson, in his “Birds of Norfolk,” notices its 
partiality for salt, and thinks that this is the reason why it 
occurs so abundantly near the coast. Other Pigeons are 
known to prefer brackish water to fresh. 
“ Like its cousins, the Pigeons, the Turtle-Dove often flies 
far to feed, and small parties of these birds, as well as of Stock- 
Doves, may be constantly seen in spring on the Wallachian 
Steppes ten miles or more from a tree or even a bush. I have 
shot them on these prairies as late as the 28th of May. The 
flight of this bird is very powerful, and often accompanied 
with loud clashing together of the wings. On the ground it 
runs among the earth-clods with great ease, continually de- 
pressing its head and contracting its neck.” 
Nest.— A flat structure of twigs, varying in strength and di- 
mensions. It is often built in evergreen trees or bushes in 
parks and gardens, or in a dense hedge, and generally at no 
great distance from the ground. 
Eggs. — Two in number, creamy- white. Axis, i-i-i-3inch; 
diam., o’85-i-o. ’ 
II. THE ORIENTAL TURTLE-DOVE. TUFTtTR ORIENTALIS. 
Colimba orientalis, Lash. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 606 (1790). 
Turtur orientalis, Salvad. Cat. B. Brit. Mus. xxi. p 403 
(1893)- 
Adult Male. — Similar to T. turtur, but rather larger, with the 
edges to the feathers on the side of the neck bluish-grey, the 
