EASTERN MOURNING DOVE 409 



have been subjected at their nests to the wholesale slaughter that 

 exterminated the pigeon. 



As we watch a number of doves feeding in a stubble field we soon 

 see that there is no very strong tie binding together the members of 

 the company — no such bond as holds together a flock of sandpipers 

 and suppresses individual action. The doves are spread out over the 

 ground, each walking off by itself and feeding more or less alone, like 

 grazing cattle. When we walk toward them they start into the air, 

 but not all together ; a few, very often only two, fly away ; then, after 

 a moment, a few more take flight and go off, very likely in another 

 direction. The flock when alarmed, instead of moving off as a unit, 

 breaks up, and the birds retreat individually or in pairs. Thus even 

 when the doves are assembled in numbers there is a tendency to 

 segregate into pairs — a characteristic of the breeding season. 



The birds leave the ground very quickly, gaining speed rapidly 

 with strong, sweeping wing beats and fly with whistling wings, 

 suggesting the whistling flight of the golden-eye. 



In eastern Massachusetts, where since 1910 the birds have become 

 well established, they frequent the dry, sandy, sparsely wooded hill- 

 sides characteristic of this glaciated countiy, and retire to nest in the 

 near-by pine woods, where they seem much at home, walking easily 

 among the branches. 



Doves often visit gravelly roads and are sometimes seen on the sea 

 beaches. On the dry plains of western Texas (Merriam, 1888) they 

 were found 3 to 5 miles from the nearest water, and Merriam (1890) 

 describes thus the coming of the doves at dusk to drink : 



Common from the Desert of the Little Colorado to the upper limit of the 

 pine belt. Every evening they assemble at the springs and water holes, com- 

 ing in greatest numbers just at dark, particularly about the borders of the 

 Desert where water is very scarce. On the evening of August 20 we camped 

 for the night at a small spring about 5 miles west of Grand Falls. At dusk 

 hundreds of doves came to drink, and continued coming until it was so dark 

 that they could not be seen. 



Voice. — The mourning dove takes its name from its common 

 note, a low-toned, moaning coo. This is one of the bird notes that, 

 while fairly loud and perfectly distinct, does not readily attract the 

 attention of one who is not familiar with it. In this respect it 

 resembles the diurnal hooting of the screech owl; both of these 

 notes in some strange way are disregarded by the ear until it is 

 trained to detect them. We then recognize them both as familiar 

 sounds of the countryside. 



A. A. Saunders in his notes describes a typical song thus : 



The sound is well imitated by a low-pitched whistle, but some birds strike 

 notes lower than I can whistle. The song consists of four notes. The first 

 is usually twice as long in time as the others, and slurred first upward, and 



