BIRDS HUNTED FOR FOOD OR SPORT. 393 



The Hens build their nests on the plain among the scrub 

 oaks. The young leave the nest soon after they are hatched 

 and the mother broods them beneath her wings wherever 

 night overtakes them. During the heat of the day in warm 

 weather these birds appear to delight in "dusting" in the 

 sandy roads, in ploughed land or wherever they find dry earth. 

 All gallinaceous birds have this habit, but the Heath Hen 

 seems to be particularly addicted to it as a means of ridding 

 itself of vermin. So far as is known, however, the dust bath 

 seems to be the only bath that it takes, for it avoids water and 

 does not appear to drink or bathe in the brooks. Apparently 

 it gets water only from rain or dewdrops which it drinks from 

 the vegetation. 



The food of the Heath Hen in summer consists largely of 

 insects, such as grasshoppers, crickets and beetles, also spiders 

 and worms; the leaves of low-growing plants, such as sorrel 

 and clover, and berries, including wild strawberries, blue- 

 berries and the partridge berry, of which it is very fond; 

 cranberries and their leaves, and the leaves of various other 

 plants; the seeds of weeds, grasses and other low-growing 

 plants, and acorns. In winter and early spring, acorns, buds, 

 green leaves, bayberries and sumac berries form a part of the 

 food. During severe winter weather it eats even the buds of 

 cone-bearing trees. Occasionally it does some injury to crops 

 of peas, and it sometimes attacks corn in the shock, and also 

 newly sown grain, but it is useful as an insect destroyer, seek- 

 ing freshly ploughed lands at morning and evening for the in- 

 sects and worms to be found there. 



Pigeons and Doves. 



The Pigeons and Doves (family Columhidoe) are represented 

 now in New England by but one species, and this, the Mourn- 

 ing Dove, is placed by Sharpe and other British authorities 

 in a separate family (Peristeridce), which includes the Ground 

 Doves and their allies. The general characteristics of the 

 Doves and Pigeons are well known, as exemplified in the 

 domesticated birds. The differences in plumage between our 



