The MourninP[ Dove (Zenaidura macroura carolinensis) 



By William Dutcher 



Length : 12 inches. 



Range ; Temperate North America, from southern Maine, southern Canada 

 and British Columbia south to Panama and the West Indies. 



"Oh ! that I had wings Hke a dove ! for then would I fly away and be at rest." 



— David 



Mourning Dove. Adult male — Upper parts olive grayish brown ; forehead, 

 a soft, delicate wine-colored pink ; crown, bluish slate ; chin, whitish ; sides of the 

 neck with bright pink and ruby iridescence ; black spot tmder each ear ; black 

 spots on some of the wing coverts; ends of primaries, showing when wing is 

 folded, brownish black ; feathers of tail markedly graduated, central ones in color 

 like back, the outer ones slaty gray, then banded with black and broadly tipped 

 with ashy and white ; breast, wine-colored pink changing into cream-bufif on 

 belly ; on sides under wings, bright bluish ; feet, lake-red, in life ; bill, black, 

 averaging a trifle over ^ inch in length. Adult female — A trifle smaller than 

 the male ; much more grayish and brownish ; lacks pinkish breast ; iridescence 

 on sides of neck much restricted and sometimes lacking. Young — Like the 

 female, but lacking the iridescence on neck and the black spots under the ears. 

 The feathers of upper parts tipped with grayish white. 



Note — The only other bird that the Mourning Dove can be confounded with 

 is the Passenger or Wild Pigeon, now extinct. The latter, however, is a much 

 larger bird and does not have the black spots under the ears. This distinguishing 

 mark is a sure means of identification of the dove. 



Is there a farmer in the country who, after a hard day's work with hoe or 

 cultivator, has not wished that some other means could be devised to prevent 

 the rapid growth of noxious weeds, and at the same time emancipate him from 

 the sweating brow, the blistered hands and the aching back? 



There is one means of weed destroying that has been entirely overlooked 

 by the agriculturists, probably because they never seriously considered the food 

 habits of the dove. 



Recent investigations made by the Biological Survey, U. S. 'Department of 

 Agriculture, of the food of the dove, prove this bird to be of incalculable value. 

 The examination of the contents of 237 stomachs of the dove shows over 99 

 per cent of its food consists wholly of vegetable matter in the shape of seeds ; 

 less than 1 per cent being animal food. Wheat, oats, rye, corn, barley and buck- 

 wheat were found in 150 of the stomachs, and constituted 32 per cent of the 

 total food. However, three-fourths of this amount was waste grain picked up 

 in the fields after the harvesting was over. Of the various grains eaten, wheat 

 is the favorite, and is almost the only one taken when it is in good condition, and 

 most of this was eaten in the months of July and August. 



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