Bible Encyclopedias
Turtledove

Kitto's Popular Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature

Fig. 333—Turtledove

Turtledove occurs in;;; , etc.; .

The birds of this subgenus are invariably smaller than pigeons properly so called; they are mostly marked with a patch of peculiarly colored scutellated feathers on the neck, or with a collar of black, and have often other markings on the smaller wing-covers. The species Columba Turtur, with several varieties merely of color, extends from the west of Europe through the north of Africa, to the islands south of China. The turtledove of Palestine is specifically the same; but there is also a second, we believe local: both migrate further south in winter, but return very early; when their cooing voice in the woods announces the spring. In the rites of the Hebrew law, full-grown or old turtledoves might be offered in pairs, but, only the young of pigeons not full grown. They were the usual offering of the poor, a circumstance, Bochart remarks, indicating the humble station of the Virgin Mary, since at her purification she offered a pair of turtledoves instead of a lamb.