CAROLINA PIGEON. 
187 
The Turtle Dove is a general inhabitant, in summer, of 
the United States, from Canada to Florida, and from the sea 
coast to the Mississippi, and far to the westward. They are, 
however, partially migratory in the northern and middle states ; 
and collect together in North and South Carolina, and their 
corresponding parallels, in great numbers, during the winter. 
On the 2d of February, in the neighbourhood of Newbern, 
North Carolina, I saw a flock of Turtle Doves of many 
hundreds ; in other places, as I advanced farther south, parti- 
cularly 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 indiscrimi- 
nately; are exceedingly fond of buckwheat, hempseed, and 
Indian corn ; feed on the berries of the holly, the dogwood, 
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 beginning of May. The nest Is very rudely con- 
structed, generally in an evergreen, among the thick foliage 
