THE MOURNING DOVE AS A GAME BIRD 



By FREDERICK C. LINCOLN, Biologist in Charge, Distribution and Migration of 

 Birds, Division of Wildlife Research, Fish andWildlife Service 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction.- ,.. i 



Distribution 1 



Breeding range 1 



Winter range _ 2 



Migration 2 



Page 

 Breeding 3 



Growth of young _. 6 



Natural mortality 7 



Management 7 



INTRODUCTION 



Sound management principles based on scientific findings must be 

 applied to the mourning dove if its status as a popular game bird is 

 to continue. As the result of extensive research in four or five States 

 well distributed through the range of the species, basic information 

 is now available on which to plan good management. 



Few birds exert a stronger esthetic and sporting appeal than does 

 the mourning dove. The trim beauty of its form (fig. 1), the soft 

 delicate shades of color touched by spots of metallic luster, the whist- 

 ling sound emitted by the rapid beat of wings in a swift, arrowlike 

 flight that calls for the greatest skill of the marksman, and the sooth- 

 ing, plaintive quality of its call-notes make it popular with both 

 sportsmen and nature students. 



DISTRIBUTION 



BREEDING RANGE 



Among all the birds classified as game, the mourning dove is unique 

 in that it is the only one that breeds in every one of the United States. 

 Its range during the breeding season also extends across southern 

 Canada from British Columbia to Ontario, and to the southward to 

 Haiti, Cuba, and central Mexico. Thus it migrates across both of 

 our international boundaries and accordingly is protected by the 

 Federal Government under the terms of the migratory bird treaties 

 between the United States and Great Britain, proclaimed in 1916, 

 and between the United States and Mexico, of 1937. 



Three subspecies of the mourning dove occupy this great range, 

 only two of which are known to occur on the North American main- 

 land. The eastern mourning dove (Zenaidura macroura carolinensis) 

 is found from the Atlantic seaboard west to the eastern edge of the 

 Great Plains, where it blends with the western race, Z. in. marginella. 

 So far as known, the so-called typical race, or West Indian mourn- 

 ing dove (Z. m. macroura), is nonmigratory and is confined to the 

 islands of the Caribbean region. Two other subspecies live on islands 

 off the west coast of Mexico. 



