113 



Band-tailed Pigeon. Even yet circumstantial accounts appear from time 

 to time, vouched for by those who remember the bird in their childhood, 

 but there is little doubt that the species is extinct. 



316. Mourning Dove. Carolina dove. fr. — la tourterelle de la c.^ROLiPfE. 

 Zenaidura macroura. L, 11-85. Plate XI A. 



Distinctions. Smaller size and of a browner fawn colour than the Passenger Pigeon, 

 without marked red on breast or blue on back and with small black spot on side of neck 

 below ear. Can only be mistaken for the previous species. 



Nesting. The Mourning Dove builds a loose open platform of sticks in the lower 

 branches of trees or the upper parts of bushes. Nests alone and not in communities. 



Distribution. Breeds along our southern borders in eastern Canada, wintering 

 locally in the most southerly parts and in the states just south of us to the tropics. 



SUBSPECIES. The Mourning Dove inhabiting the most of North America is 

 the Carolina, Mourning Dove Z.7n. carolinen sis, which is the only subspecies generally 

 recognized as occurring in Canada. The type form is entirely extralimital. 



Though the Passenger Pigeon has disappeared entirely, the smaller 

 Mourning Dove still exists and probably has greatly increased with the 

 clearing of the country. The general food habits of the two birds were 

 much alike except in the proportion of the various food elements. The 

 Mourning Dove eats mast readily, but it formed the principal food of the 

 Pigeon which was, therefore, more of a woodland bird. The Mourning 

 Dove is of more solitary habits and rarely goes in flocks of any size. It 

 nests entirely alone. This may be a large factor in its continued existence 

 where its larger and originally more numerous relative has failed. Disease 

 could not spread through the ranks as thoroughly and any other calamity 

 that might affect individuals or small bodies, would not involve the species 

 as a whole. In many sections the Dove is regarded as a game bird, but such 

 status is not usually recognized by law. Great numbers are killed, however, 

 incidental to other sport, in spite of legal protection, and the life of the 

 species is not an undisturbed one. It, is, however, a strong and thriving 

 race and is in little immediate danger. 



Its long mournful note of " Oh-woe-woe-woe " is well known and has 

 given the name to the species. It has a peculiar quality like that produced 

 by blowing softly into the neck of an empty bottle. 



Economic Status. Though feeding largely upon mast (acorns, beech- 

 nuts, and such soft-shelled tree-fruit) it eats grain readily and a con- 

 siderable amount of insect food. Most of the grain it takes is waste, and 

 seed properly planted and covered is absolutely safe from it for it never 

 scratches. No serious unpreventable harm can be substantiated against 

 it and the good it does is positive. 



Order — Raptores. Birds of Prey. 



General Description. Flesh-eating birds with four well-developed toes (Figures 31 

 and 32, p. 23). each armed with strong sharp claws or talons for seizing and holding prey. 

 Bill is hooked (Figures 30, 33 a and b, and 34, pp. 23 and 24), and the base covered with 

 a soft skin or cere in which the nostrils are situated. The Birds of Prey differ from the 

 generahty of birds in that the females are considerably larger than the males. This is 

 probably due to the greater strain placed upon the female in feeding her young, which, 

 demanding strength, weight, and endurance rather than fineness and technic, necessitates 

 a greater degree of these quahties in the female than in the male who, while he may assist 

 his mate, has not the final responsibility for the growing family. 



Distribution. Raptorial birds are distributed over all the world except the Antarctic 

 continent, where their place is taken by Skua, Gulls, and other rapacious sea-birds. 



