76 MEMOIRS OF THE XUTTALL ORXITIIOI.OGICAL CLUB 



gardens. Too small to offer a tempting morsel, it is not shot and, fearless 

 of man, it prefers cultivated to wild lands, so that its future is safe beyond 

 that of most of its feathered compatriots. Its voice, soon familiar, is a 

 single simple sad tone, a prolonged hiip. At any time after February it makes 

 its slipshod platform nest of twigs and grass in the lower branches of some 

 citrous tree or on airplants growing very low. For so small a bird, its 

 flight is strong, direct, and rapid, beginning with much noisy snapping of 

 wings, like our domestic pigeons', and wholly unlike the gamey whirr of the 

 Quail Doves. 



133. Zenaidura macroura macroura (Linne). 

 Cuban Mourning Dove; Rabiche. 



In spite of constant persecution the Rabiche still exists in enormous 

 numbers. It is a far more common bird than is its Northern ally, our 

 Mourning Dove — even when that is concentrated on its winter range. 

 This is the favorite game bird of Cuba, since its habits make possible a 

 large bag with very little effort. During the spring and summer the 

 Rabiches are scattered in pairs far and wide, but once the nesting season 

 is over they begin to flock. They have their regular roosts, called 

 dormiiorios, to which they repair year after year. These may be in some 

 outstanding grove of royal palms or some clump of tall trees in a wide 

 pasture. There is a famous roost in the high willows in the middle of 

 Lake Ariguanabo. They also choose regular drinking places to which 

 they repair morning and evening, and at these bebederos, or at the roosts, 

 the hunters lie in wait for the Doves and kill great numbers. They are 

 prized for food and many get into the markets. 



Their voice is somewhat like our Carolina Dove's but more broken 

 into syllables, and Gundlach has well rendered it as tid-yii-tu-tittu. Nesting 

 begins in late February or early March, and lasts through the summer. 

 As with our Doves, two white eggs are laid upon the usual perilous platform 

 of crooked sticks. 



134. Zenaida zenaida zenaida (Bonaparte). 

 Zenaida Dove; Sanjuanera. 



Why this Dove is called 'Sanjuanera,' or what possible relation it 

 can have with any tradition connected with St. John, I have never been 



