66 Contributions from the Charleston Museum. 



and as late as 1882, since in the summer of that year I ob- 

 served two pairs of these birds at Caesar's Head, Greenville county. 



The only specimen I ever saw on the coast was shot by a colored 

 man while on a "deer stand," November 21, 1885, at Sineath's 

 Station, thirteen miles north of Charleston. I was at the station 

 waiting for the train to Charleston, when two hunters came up. 

 One of them took from his bag a young female Wild Pigeon and 

 showed it to me with much pride. As the bird was shot with 

 buckshot it could not be preserved. 



Wilson observed a flock of these birds near Frankfort, Ken- 

 tucky, about 1808, which he estimated to contain 2,230,272,000 

 individuals. 



This species is now almost extinct, having been caught in 

 enormous numbers in nets, and drowned in multitudes in the 

 Gulf of Mexico during migrations. 



128. Zenaidura macroura carolinensis (Linn.). Mourning 

 Dove. 



This permanent resident is exceedingly abundant along the en- 

 tire coast, and in the autumn large flights occur. If the weather 

 is cool in the early part of October, these birds fly along the beach 

 at Mount Pleasant every morning and evening in very large flocks. 

 This particular place is a regular ' ' flight line ' ' for the birds in Octo- 

 ber, and this fact has been well known for more than a century. 

 The Carolina Dove has two broods each year. The earliest 

 date upon which I have observed eggs is April 11, 1887. This 

 species breeds either on the ground, or in low bushes or on the 

 branches of high trees. The nest is very loosely constructed, 

 and is composed of a few sticks, or small twigs. Two eggs com- 

 prise a full set, and these are white, and measure 1.05X.80. 

 Both sexes incubate. 



Although this species is supposed to feed upon the ground, this 

 is by no means always the case as the birds resort to the pine 

 woods for weeks at a time to feed upon the seeds of these trees, 

 which they obtain by walking out on the limbs and extracting 

 them from the cones. The flesh at this time is very strongly im- 

 pregnated with a piney flavor. 



129. Chaemepelia passerina terrestris (Chapm.). Ground Dove. 

 The Ground Dove is a permanent resident and used to be ex- 

 ceedingly abundant on the coast islands, as well as on the main- 



