EASTERN - MOURlSriN-G DOVE 411 



unlike the quail, the mourning dove and the band-tailed pigeon are both sus- 

 ceptible to strychnine. 



C. S. Thompson (1901) notes a very long tapeworm wound round 

 and round in the intestines of an emaciated bird, and Lloyd (1887), 

 writing of the bird in western Texas, speaks of owls as enemies in 

 winter, " when they frequently change their roosting place, as a 

 friend (Mr. Loomis) suggests, in consequence of being disturbed by 

 the numerous owls." 



The cowbird not infrequently selects the dove as a host for its 

 young. 



Game. — Bryant (1926) shows why, aside from its desirability as a 

 table delicacy, the dove is a popular game bird, affording a rapidly 

 moving target that demands the utmost skill on the part of the 

 hunter. He says : 



Unless favorably located near a watering place, one bird in three or four 

 shots makes a good average for all but the most experienced hunter. The 

 small size and great speed make the bird a difficult target. The variety of 

 shots possible is almost endless. Quartering and side shots are most difficult 

 because of the speed of the birds in flight. Then come shots at towering or 

 descending birds, often dependent on whether they are coming or going. The 

 easier straight-away shots are to be expected less often in dove shooting than 

 in quail shooting. 



Thus it will be seen that dove hunting gives the best of practice to the lover 

 of wing shooting. No finer test of skill is afforded unless it be in snipe 

 shooting. 



Fall and winter. — In regions where mourning doves are common, 

 they begin to resume their gregarious habits soon after the breeding 

 season is over. 



J. A. Spurrell (1917), speaking of the bird in Iowa, says: 



From the latter part of July until the doves depart on their fall migration in 

 late October they select common roosting places, one of which happens to be 

 our orchard. Toward sunset the doves visit some place to drink and then fly 

 to the roosting place from all directions until between five and six hundred are 

 roosting there. They depart again just as it becomes light in the morning, 

 spending the day far away in pastures and grain fields. During the month of 

 August they may be commonly found about salt troughs for cattle, seeming to 

 eat the salt. 



Stockard (1905) speaks thus of the dove's habit of roosting in 

 Mississippi, where they remain during the winter : 



Late in summer they begin roosting in company, and many hundreds come 

 about sunset to their chosen place for the night. During this season they are 

 shot in large numbers while flying to the hedge or small wood that has been 

 selected as a roosting place. 



Throughout the winter in the Southern States we see the doves, in 

 companies of a dozen or more, feeding quietly in the stubble and pea 

 fields, from which, as we approach, they flush rather wildly and, 



