In May the turtle-doves were skimming low across the fields, after
their arrival in this country. During the last week of August we saw
them gathering into little parties of dozens or scores against the hour
of their departure. The doves leave before the end of harvest--the
first chillness of autumn bids them go. The pigeons remain to continue
their feasts of corn. Their cooing from the recesses of the beeches
suggests a well-fed laziness. Great feeders as they are, they stuff
their crops to bursting-point, and nothing vegetarian or fruitarian
seems to come amiss to them--whether the greens of root-crops, acorns,
beech-mast, clover, the sown peas, dandelion leaves, sainfoin, anemone
roots, charlock, beech buds, the seeds of bluebells, wild strawberries,
oak-galls, or corn in all its stages. Turtle-doves pay little attention
to corn till harvest-time; the seeds of charlock and of other noxious
plants are a greater attraction. Though they fly with wood-pigeons a
great deal, their diet is different, and they seem to come to ponds
to drink more often than the pigeons, perhaps because some of their
favourite foods, such as charlock seeds, are hot and thirst-producing.
They are among the farmer's best friends.
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