174 
BLUEFIELDS. 
estates that we most abundantly hear the melody of 
singing-birds, so here do the plaintive voices of the 
Doves fall most frequently upon the ear. The White- 
wing {Turtur leucojpterus) and the Pea-dove {Zenaida 
amahilis) are essentially lowland birds ; and these, 
with the exception of the Whitebelly, are the most 
incessant, and the most tender of all our cooers. 
Not, however, that we hear their voices immediately 
around the homestead ; when they come into the 
open pastures to feed, they are usually wary and 
silent; but from the surrounding woods, the tall 
thick trees of the pens, and especially the impene- 
trable mangrove-morasses, their loud, but sweetly 
gentle, meanings fall with a mournfully pleasing 
cadence upon the ear. The Pea-dove’s voice is the 
more tender, and is particularly prominent in the 
evening, while the blustering sea-breeze gradually 
lulls itself to repose ; the longer, sharper and more 
impatient call of the Whitewing is most heard in the 
morning, though each season brings the notes of both 
birds, from all parts of the woods around. They are 
respectively characteristic of the quietude of the late 
and early hours. 
“ Nec tamen interea raucae . . . palumbes, 
Nec gemere aeria cessabit turtur ab ulmo.” 
ViRG. Ed. i. 58. 
None but those who have listened to these gentle 
voices can tell what an effect they produce upon the 
mind. Their tender melancholy communicates itself 
to the hearer ; and though reason tells him that 
they are the expressions of buoyant joy and health 
