WESTEFX MOUFNIXG DOVE 593 



This bird is essentiall.y an inhabitant of open country, and is 

 rarely if ever found in tliickly forested regions. It does, however, 

 seek shelter in moderate growths of trees, such as willows and cotton- 

 woods along stream courses, or the oaks and digger pines of the foot- 

 hill country. Since it feeds to a large extent upon small plant seeds 

 it is not limited to fertile regions, but is scattered far and wide over 

 muph of the desert country in the southeastern part of the state. Here 

 the occasional rains are followed by profuse crops of annuals which 

 leave the ground strewn with their seeds. In settled regions the birds 

 are very often seen foraging along roadsides or in waste corners of 

 fields. 



Water is a prime requisite for the dove and regular visits are made 

 to drinking places in the early morning and evening. Even in the 

 desert country where feeding and drinking places are often many 

 miles apart, the birds make the journey between the two with remark- 

 able regularity and directness. Sometimes the only accessible water 

 for miles is at a small isolated spring or seepage place, but the birds 

 find their way to it with apparent ease. Indeed, experienced travelers 

 on the desert have asserted that when in search of water they have 

 made use of this faculty of the birds and followed their direct lines 

 of flight with success. This essential habit, of visiting water holes, 

 was formerly turned to advantage by Indians and market hunters, 

 who secreted themselves in the vicinitj^ and killed the birds in great 

 numbers as they came to drink. 



Doves roost for the night both on the ground and in trees. A 

 favorite perch for the night is some leafless tree in the vicinity of a 

 drinking place. In illustration of their behavior in this respect the 

 instance may be cited of a flock on San Clemente Island, where at the 

 time of observation "a clump of scraggy cherry trees in the ravine a 

 few rods north of the windmill seemed to be a regular roosting place. 

 Just at dusk, every evening, the doves would arrive in pairs and 

 settle in the trees until there were probably twenty or thirty. But 

 they would leave in the morning by daylight ..." (Grinnell, 1897, 

 p. 13). 



Mourning Doves are rarely seen singly. Usually they are noted 

 in pairs and quite often in small flocks of a dozen or so. Sometimes 

 the birds band into larger flocks numbering fifty or more ; but this 

 is only after the nesting season, when the young are fully grown, and 

 the families have joined together. Throughout most of the year, 

 whether feeding in stubble fields or weed patches, whether coming to 

 drink or perching in trees to roost for the night, the birds are as a 

 rule observed in pairs. This association in couples is so general as to 

 give rise to the common belief that doves mate for life. 



The call of this dove is a rather mournful cooing, mellow but far- 



