CAROLINA PIGEON, OR TURTLE DOVE. 291 
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, 
particularly 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 accom- 
panied 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 indiscriminately ; are exceedingly fond 
of buckwheat, hempseed, and Indian corn ; feed on the 
berries of the holly, the dogwood, and poke, huckle- 
berries, 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 
onstructed, generally in an evergreen, among the thick 
