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CAROLINA PIGEON. 
of the vine, in an orchard, on the horizontal branches of an 
apple tree, and, in some cases, on the ground. It is composed 
of a handful of small twigs, laid with little art, on which are 
scattered dry fibrous roots of plants ; and in this almost flat bed 
are deposited two eggs of a snowy whiteness. The male and 
female unite in feeding the young, and they have rarely more 
than two broods in the same season. 
The flesh of this bird is considered much superior to that of 
the Wild Pigeon ; but its seeming confidence in man, the 
tenderness of its notes, and the innocency attached to its 
character, are, with many, its security and protection ; with 
others, however, the tenderness of its flesh, and the sport of 
shooting, overcome all other considerations. About the com- 
mencement of frost, they begin to move off to the south ; 
numbers, however, remain in Pennsylvania during the whole 
winter. 
The Turtle Dove is twelve inches long, and seventeen 
inches in extent ; bill, black ; eye, of a glossy blackness, 
surrounded with a pale greenish blue skin ; crown, upper part 
of the neck and wings, a fine silky slate blue ; back, scapu- 
lars, and lesser wing-coverts, ashy brown ; tertials spotted 
with black ; primaries, edged and tipt with white ; forehead, 
sides of the neck, and breast, a pale brown vinous orange • 
under the ear-feathers, a spot or drop of deep black ; imme- 
diately below which the plumage reflects the most vivid tints 
of green, gold, and crimson ; chin, pale yellow ochre ; belly 
and vent, whitish ; legs and feet, coral red, seamed with white ; 
the tail is long and cuneiform, consisting of fourteen feathers ; 
the four exterior ones, on each side, are marked with black, 
about an inch from the tips, and white thence to the extremity ; 
the next has less of the white at the tip ; these gradually 
lengthen to the four middle ones, which are wholly dark slate ; 
all of them taper towards the points, the two middle ones 
most so. 
The female is an inch shorter, and is otherwise only dis- 
tinguished by the less brilliancy of her colour ; she also wants 
