23 



by an examination of the crop and gizzard contents of a good 

 manj' individuals, that weed seeds are preferred to all other 

 kinds of food, and the smaller varieties to the larger. Rice and 

 other domestic grains, together with the seeds of forage plants, 

 and even corn are eaten, but in very inconsiderable quantities 

 compared with weed seeds and wild berries of various kinds. In 

 lieu of other data the writer has taken the liberty to quote from 

 others whose statements do not lack in authority and are cor- 

 roborated by observations in this locality. The varieties of seeds, 

 of course, differ, since the flora is not the same in any two parts 

 of the country; yet it is a fact that doves destroy the injurious 

 plant seeds rather than the harmless and useful, which is the 

 important thing and not the specific species. 



T. S. Palmer of the United States Biological Survey (Bull. 

 No. 12, U. S. Dept. Agri.) states in regard to the food of doves: 

 "Doves feed largely on seeds, and an examination of a consider- 

 able number of stomachs has shoAvn that this includes seeds of 

 the noxious weeds, such as poke weed and several varieties of the 

 genus Lithospemum (Gromwell, Puccoons, etc.), Oxalis (Sorrel), 

 and EupJiorbia (Spurge). In certain parts of California the 

 habit of feeding on the seed of the turkey mullein {Eremocarpus 

 setigerous is so M^ell known that a botanist, on inquiring how he 

 could collect some seeds of the plant, was advised to shoot a few 

 doves and open their crops. Under certain circumstances enorm- 

 ous quantities of weed seeds are devoured, as shown by the crop 

 of a dove killed in a rj^e field at Warner, Tenn., which contained 

 no less than 7,500 seeds of Oxalis stricta. As a weed destroyer, 

 it more than compensates for the grain that it occasionally con- 

 sumes, and the value of its services is certainly greater than the 

 few cents that its body brings in the market." Sylvester Judd, 

 also of the United States Biological Survey (Year Book of the 

 Dept. Agri., 1900), speaking of the food of nesting birds, says: 

 "Five squabs of the mourning dove were examined in the lab- 

 oratory of the Biological Survey; 30 per cent of their feed was 

 composed of the seeds of the sorrel (Oxalis), spurge, ragweed, 

 sunflower, pigeon-grass and corn, while the remaining 70 per 

 cent consisted of irregular endosperm fragments of the above 

 seeds from 0.5 mm. to 3 mm. in diameter, probably the regurgi- 

 tated matter known as pigeon's milk. Adult doves collected 

 during the breeding season, had eaten the same kind of seeds. 



