50 



BIRDS OF AMERICA 



Tlie W hite-winged Dove has been credited 

 with a trick of lying very close when it is on the 

 ground, in fact till it is almost stepped on, and 

 then taking flight with a whirring of wings ; but 

 Mr. W. L. Finley says that in the three months 

 he once spent in the neighborhood of Tucson he 

 did not notice this habit. (MS.) 



The characteristic note is Owl-like rather than 

 Dove-like, which is to say it is bold and emphatic 

 rather than timid and melancholy or lovesick. 

 In uttering it the Dove inflates its throat as does 

 a Pouter Pigeon. " Mr. Herbert Brown said the 

 peculiar note of the White-winged Dove always 



reminded him of the crowing of a young rooster 

 just learning. He was deceived entirely the first 

 time he heard it ; he was satisfied he was near a 

 farm house, but upon investigation, he found 

 no one living in the locality, but he did discover 

 a Dove that was doing the crowing." (W. L. 

 Finley, MS.) 



Its note, its numbers, and its whirring flight 

 make the White-winged Dove perhaps the best 

 known bird of the torrid cactus deserts and 

 mesquite valleys of the southwest. 



In its flight the white bands on the bird's wings 

 and tail are plainly visible. 



GROUND DOVE 



Chaemepelia passerina terrestris ( Chapnian ) 



A. O. U. Xumber 320 



Other Name. — Mourning Dove. 



General Description. — Length, 6;/. inches ; smallest 

 of American Doves. Color above, grayish-brown ; 

 below, grayish-reddish. Wing moderate with rounded 

 tip ; tail from Yi to J4 length of wing, decidedly 

 rounded, with 12 feathers, these relatively broad and 

 with broadly rounded tips. 



Color. — Forehead, front of crown, sides of head 

 and neck, and under parts, light grayish-reddish, paler 

 on chin and upper throat, deepening into pinkish light 

 purple-drab on chest, and passing into brownish-gray 

 behind, the under tail-coverts paler on margins ; feathers 

 on sides of head and neck and lower throat narrowly 

 margined with darker, those of foreneck and chest more 

 broadly or more distinctly margined, and with a central 

 broadly wedged-shaped spot of dusky; rear of crown, 

 back of head, and hindneck. bluish-gray, the feathers 

 narrowly margined with dusky ; back, shoulders, inner 

 secondaries, front lesser wing-coverts, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts, plain grayish-brown; wing-coverts (except 

 front lesser coverts), similar in color to chest, etc., 

 passing into a more grayish hue on greater coverts, the 

 inner coverts with spots (the rear ones wedge-shaped 



and oblique) of metallic blackish-purple; outer second- 

 aries dull brownish-black, narrowly edged with paler; 

 primary coverts, dull black with basal half chestnut; 

 primaries, chestnut with terminal portion and outer 

 webs (except basally) of longer quills, dull black, the 

 shorter primaries tipped and edged with black ; middle 

 tail-feathers, brownish-gray; the rest, dull black, the 

 outermost ones margined terminally (especially on 

 outer web) with whitish; bill, coral-red or orange-red, 

 dusky at tip ; iris, orange-red ; legs and feet, flesh-color 

 or pink. 



Nest and Eggs. — Nest : On the ground or from 2 

 to 20 feet above it in bushes, stumps, vines, or small 

 trees ; simply a few curved twigs with the addition 

 sometimes of pine-needles. Eggs : 2, pure white or 

 creamy white. 



Distribution. — Florid:j. including Keys, South Caro- 

 lina, and westward near the Gulf coast through Ala- 

 bama to Louisiana into western Texas, southern .Arizona 

 and Lower California; occasional or casual northward 

 to North Carolina, Virginia, District of Columbia, 

 Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York City, 

 and Tennessee. 



The Ground Dove is the smallest of the North 

 American Pigeons. It is a dainty, trusting little 

 bird and often allows one to walk within a few 

 yards of it before taking flight. The larger part 

 of its life is spent on the ground, where it seems 

 to obtain all its food. On short legs it walks 

 sedately along in a rather rapid manner, prettily 

 bobbing its head as it goes, and picking up seeds 

 of grass and weeds by the way. It does not 

 occur north of North Carolina and is rare in that 



State. It increases in numbers as one advances 

 farther south, and reaches its greatest abund- 

 ance in Florida, where it is found in most parts 

 of the State. Elsewhere in the East it lives 

 mainly near the coast. It is distributed along the 

 Gulf coast in suitable localities as far west as 

 Texas. 



In the more open places in the woods as well 

 as about lakes and on plantations you may come 

 across it almost anywhere. In many towns it 



