Then there came to the kitchen-window two white doves, and after them some turtle-doves, and at last a crowd of all the birds under heaven, chirping and fluttering, and they alighted among the ashes;

On Friday, came reports of turtle doves falling from the sky near Ravenna, Italy, and thousands of dead crabs on the coast around Thanet in Kent.

And yesterday, 700 turtle doves were found dead in Faenza, in northern Italy.