292 
COLUMBA CAROLINENSIS. 
foliage 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 w ith 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 brood in the same season. 
The flesh of this bird is considered much superior to 
that of the wfild 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 commencement 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, scapulars, and lesser wing-coverts, ashy 
brown ; tertials, spotted w ith 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 ; immediately 
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 
wfith 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 w holly 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 
distinguished by the less brilliancy of her colour ; she 
