PIGEONS AND DOVES 



47 



broader on outermost quills ; middle pair of tail-feathers 

 similar in color to back, but usually rather grayer, some- 

 times darkening terminally; next pair, grayer with a 

 dusky bar (usually oblique) across middle portion of 

 inner web; third pair, similar but with the dusky (or 

 black) bar more distinct, extending across part of outer 

 web (the bar more or less V-shaped) ; fourth and fifth 

 pairs, with the black bar broader, extending entirely 

 across both webs, and with the gray of ends passing into 

 grayish-white terminally; sixth pair, similar to fifth but 

 ends mostly white; seventh (outermost) pair, similar 

 but with outer web entirely white; general color of 

 under parts reddish-fawn color, deeper (sometimes 

 nearly fawn color) on foreneck and chest, becoming 

 much paler on chin and upper throat, behind passing 

 through light pinkish-cinnamon on abdomen and pink- 

 ish-bulT on anal region to cartridge-lniff on longer 

 under tail-coverts; sides of head, similar in color to 

 forehead but sometimes slightly paler, relieved by a 

 smalt sfot of l'Unk\ ylossrd ii'ilh blue on side of head ; 

 sides and flanks and under wing-coverts, clear bluish- 

 gray ; bill, black, the mouth lake-red, the tumid nasal 

 valves somewhat glaucous ; iris, dark brown ; bare eye 

 space, pale l)lue, tinged above eye with pale green ; legs 

 and feet, lake-red. .Adult Fk.malk: Similar to the 

 adult male l)ut coloration duller ; less reddish lielow. 



where passing into or tinged with light drab on foreneck 

 and chest ; black spots on secondaries and wing-coverts 

 larger and more numerous, the shoulders sometimes 

 with a few black spots or broad streaks; inetallic gloss 

 on sides of neck more restricted and less brilliant, and 

 black head spot smaller and without blue gloss. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest: Placed in trees (usually 

 1 )w down), bushes, cactus, dense brier thickets, or on 

 ground or on cliflF ; a frail structure of twigs, so flat 

 ihat the fact that the eggs do not roll off oftener is 

 remarkable. Kggs : i or 2, white ; 2 and sometimes 3 

 iiroods ill a season. 



Distribution. — North America; breeds from British 

 Columbia. Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, and south- 

 ern Nova Scotia south throughout the United States 

 and Mexico, and locally in Lower California, and 

 Guatemala; winters from southern Oregon, southern 

 Colorado, northern Ohio, and .Vorth Carolina to Pan- 

 ama; casual in winter in Middle States. 



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The best-known characteristic of the Mourn- 

 ing Dove is its call — it can hardly be considered 

 a song — which may suggest hopeless sorrow, or 

 the tendercst love and devotion, according to the 

 mood of the listener. Another peculiarity which 

 attaches to the bird is the fact that it is fre- 

 quently mistaken, by untrained observers, for 

 the probably altogether extinct Passenger 

 Pigeon. Indeed, probably all of the " Passenger 

 Pigeons " reported during the past twenty years 

 have been Mourning Doves : this, at least, has so 

 often proved to be the case that ornithologists 

 take little interest nowadays in announcements 

 that a flock of the Pigeons has been seen. 



MOURNING DOVE 

 (j Dat. size) 



It is frequently mistaken for the extinct 

 Passenger Pigeon 



Drawing by R. I. Brasher 



The nest of this bird is an astonishingly poor 

 makeshift, composed chiefly of a handful of 

 twigs thrown together so loosely that the eggs 

 are in danger of rolling out of it, or falling 

 through the interstices. Neither the hopeless 

 woe nor the love-sick hypothesis nor both seem 

 to account for this slovenliness. Very likely it 

 the birds employed some of the time and ardor 

 they usually put into billing and cooing in trying 

 to construct a safe and substantia! home, the 

 result would be a better nest : but after all their 

 poor workmanship is probably due pritnarily to 

 the fact that both their bills and their feet are ill- 

 adapted to nest-building. 



A peculiarity by means of which the Mourn- 

 ing Dove may certainly be identified, is the sharp 

 whistling of its wings while it is in flight. An- 

 other distinctive habit of the bird, especially 

 during the mating and nesting season, is that of 

 the male in rising from its perch, with violent 

 flapping of wings (which, like those of the do- 



