fTESTEBN MOURNING DOVE 



601 



or on the other liand, the clearing of brush lands, does not affect them 

 unfavorably. 



In earlier years Mourning Doves furnished "a large amount of 

 food to the Indians during the spring and summer. Before migration 

 commences the Indians build rude huts of brush, grass, and weeds, in 

 whicli to secrete themselves, near the springs and streams. Loopholes 



Alabama 



Arizona 



California 



Colorado 



Delaware 



Florida 



Georgia 



Idaho 



Illinois 



Kentucky 



Louisiana 



Maryland 



Mississippi 



Missouri 



Nebraska 



Nevada 



New Mexico 



North 

 Carolina 



Oregon 

 South 

 Carolina 



Tennessee 



Utah 



Virginia 

 (part) 



June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. Dec. Jan. Feb. Mar. April May 





Fig. 94. Open season for hunting doves in states which 

 allow these birds to be shot (1915). 



are made on the sides toward the water, through which arrows are 

 shot at the birds as they alight to drink" (A. K. Fisher, 1893a, p. 33). 



In 1895-96, when doves were yet permitted to be sold in the 

 markets, the records of the California Fish and Game Commission 

 (Calif. Fish Comm., 1896, p. 40) show that 5,160 birds were received 

 in San Francisco and Los Angeles from October to February, inclus- 

 ive. Their value was quoted as slightly less than five cents apiece. 



The dove population of California as a whole has decreased con- 

 siderably during recent years. Twenty-two of our correspondents 

 report decreases ranging from sliglit reductions to almost total extir- 



