76 



THE OObOOIST 



her two white eggs. Further inspec- 

 tion showed them to be highly advanc- 

 ed in incubation as one would expect 

 at this season of the year. 



It is not an uncommon trait for the 

 Mourning Dove to appropriate the nest 

 of another species for its own use. 

 An instance similar to the above I ex- 

 perienced in connection with a Robin's 

 nest. The Robins had build their nest 

 eleven feet up in an apple tree and 

 by May 4th had deposited the usual 

 four blue eggs. On May 14th the eggs 

 were hatched and the young birds suc- 

 cessfully reared. On the following 

 June 1st, I found the same Robin's 

 nest occupied by a Mourning Dove 

 covering two eggs of her own. Appar- 

 ently the interval between the depar- 

 ture of the last young Robin and the 

 "moving in" of the dove was very short 

 in this case. 



Other instances of the above I have 

 observed as follows: 



May 13, 1909, two Mourning Dove 

 eggs in last year's Robin's nest, eight 

 feet, box-elder. 



May 21, 1909, two Mourning Dove 

 eggs in old Brown Thrasher's nest. 



May 6, 1914, two Mourning Dove 

 eggs in old Brown Thrasher's nest four 

 feet in Hawthorne. 



May 29, 1914, two Mourning Dove 

 eggs in old Brown Thrasher's nest, 

 nine feet in vines. 



Sometimes the Dove will palce a few 

 additional sticks in the bed of the 

 other nest. On several occasions 1 

 have found her nest resting on the 

 top of an unused gray squirrel's nest o^ 

 dry leaves in the fork of a tree. The 

 usual set is two but I have found one 

 nest containing three eggs (May 2S. 

 1908) as has been previously reported 

 in this magazine. 



The nest is small and slightly built 

 of slender weed stalks and rootlets 

 and is usually placed at low eleva- 



Dominguez Waterway, Los Angeles River, Los Angeles Co., Calif. 

 Home of the California Cuckoo 



— Photo by Cookman 



