The Turtle's moan is heard in ev'ry grove;
The pastures change, the warbling linnets sing.
Prepare to welcome in the gaudy spring!
Philips.
There is no melody in the song of the Turtle, as it consists of a single note, a soft, sweet, agitated murmur, continued without pause for a long time, called a 'moan' [2] both by Latin and English poets, not from its being suggestive of pain, but because there is no other word which describes it so nearly. I have already had occasion to remark how unsatisfactory are most of the attempts which have been made to represent the songs of birds by combinations of letters, but the Latin name of the Turtle-dove, Turtur, is a notable exception. Pronounced 'tur-r-r tur-r-r', it will instantly recall the note to any one who has once heard it. The French name also, Tourterelle, can belong to this bird alone.
The Turtle Dove is found in all the southern countries of Europe, in Palestine, and many other parts of Asia, including the islands south of China. In England it is a visitor in the southern and midland counties only, arriving in spring and remaining with us until the end of September. Its favourite places of resort are groves, belts of trees, and tall hedgerows in cultivated districts. Here it builds its unsubstantial nest of a few sticks, and lays two eggs. Its food consists of seeds of various kinds, and it has the discredit of resorting to fields of green wheat for the sake of feeding on the milky grain. I am doubtful whether this charge can be sustained. Often enough when walking through a cornfield one may see two or three Turtle Doves rise suddenly from the thick corn with a rustle and low cry of alarm, rapidly dart away in the direction of the nearest grove, disappearing in the shade, all but a white segment of a circle, formed by the tips of their tail-feathers; but on examining the spot from which they rose, I have been unable to detect any ears of corn rifled of their contents, though the ground was thickly matted with weeds, which might have furnished them food. I am informed by a young friend that he has often shot them while in the act of rising from such situations and has invariably found their crops distended with the green seed-vessels of a weed common in corn-fields, the corn-spurrey (Spérgula arvensis). This being the case, the Turtle Dove is more a friend than an enemy to the farmer, even if it sometimes regales on ripe grain or interferes with the occupation of the gleaner. It is also very partial to vetches. I have met with an instance where a Turtle Dove paid daily visits to one particular spot, under a hedge in a field, and though fired at by the owner of the field many times, under the idea that it was a rare bird, it soon returned; and when at last shot, its crop was found to be full of vetch seeds which had been accidentally spilled from a bag.
The Turtle Dove is smaller than any of the other British Doves. When flying, it seems scarcely larger than a Missel Thrush; but it is more slender in shape, and its wings are much longer. It beats its wings, too, more rapidly, and moves through the air with greater velocity. The tints of its plumage are more varied than in the other British species, but far inferior in brilliancy to many foreign ones.
The Turtle Dove so frequently kept in a cage is the Collared Turtle Dove (Columba risoria), a native of India and China. This species is distinguished by a black crescent on the back of the neck, the horns of which nearly meet in front. Turtle Doves are much kept in Germany, owing to a strange popular superstition that they are more predisposed than the human species to nervous disorders and rheumatism, and that when any of these complaints visit a house, they fall on the birds rather than on their owners.
[39] Cant. ii. 11, 12.
[40] 'Nec gemere aëria cessabit Turtur ab ulmo.'—Virgil.
Nor shall from lofty elm the Turtle cease to moan.