EASTERN MOURNING DOVE 403 



and sport. In the West it is an inhabitant both of the plains and 

 the mountains, ranging commonly to 7,000 feet altitude. 



And yet, well known and widely distributed as the bird is, it is 

 not a conspicuous bird of the country at all. It is quiet in voice, 

 neutral in color, and so unobtrusive in deportment that it seems 

 little more than a part of the background; a quiet, pastoral bird, 

 reminding us of the man in " The Bab Ballads " — " no characteristic 

 trait had he of any distinctive kind" — or of sweet, lovable, but 

 wholly negative Hero in " Much Ado about Nothing." 



Spring. — In the parts of the country where the mourning dove 

 spends the winter, one of the early signs of spring is when the winter 

 flocks begin to break up and the doves separate into mated pairs. 

 Just as the mockingbird in the Southern States bursts suddenly into 

 song and separates winter from spring, so the male mourning dove, 

 who has been silent through the winter, at the first hint of spring 

 begins to coo. 



As the breeding season approaches, the birds become gradually 

 tamer and, as Wilson (1832) says, they " are often seen in the 

 farmer's yard before the door, the stable, barn, and other outhouses, 

 in search of food, seeming little inferior in familiarity, at such times, 

 to the domestic pigeon " — a contrast to the wild game bird of the 

 autumn. 



Courtship. — Very little has been published on the courting actions 

 of the mourning dove, and apparently no detailed study has been 

 made of them. Indeed, many observers who know the bird well 

 state that they have seen no courting at all. 



Barrows (1912), who gives a careful description of a nuptial flight, 

 points out that " although familiar with the mourning clove's habits 

 in New England, western New York, and elsewhere we have never 

 seen this peculiar flight except in Michigan." He says : 



An individual leaves its perch on a tree, and, with vigorous and sometimes 

 noisy flapping (the wings seeming to strike each other above the back), rises 

 obliquely to a height of a hundred feet or more, and then, on widely extended 

 and motionless wings, glides back earthward in one or more sweeping curves. 

 Usually the wings, during the gliding flight, are carried somewhat below the 

 plane of the body, in the manner of a soaring yellowlegs or sandpiper, and 

 sometimes the bird makes a complete circle or spiral before again flapping 

 its wings, which it does just before alighting. * * * This peculiar evolu- 

 tion is commonly repeated several times at intervals of two or three minutes, 

 and appears to be a display flight for the benefit of its mate, the assumption 

 being that only the male dove soars. 



Goss (1891) speaks of the courtship thus: 



During the pairing season the male often circles and sails above his mate, 

 with tail expanded, and upon the ground struts about with nodding head, and 

 feathers spread in a graceful manner. 



