76 Bird Studies. 



suming all kinds of dead animal matter, and acting as sanitary police without 

 regard to the wishes of other dwellers about them. 



In the gardens of many southern homes and often seen walking in the 



sand of road or street, is a small dove, in form very like a house pigeon, but 



„ . ^ diminutive. The bird is only about six inches and three 



Ground Dove. , , ,m , • i , ■ • 



coiumbigaiiina passerina quartcrs long aud may readily be recognized by its size 



terrestr.s chapm. alonc, for It Is the only pigeon approaching this size in 

 Eastern North America. 



It is a bird with the colors to which doves have given a name. Dove 

 color is perhaps difficult to formulate in words, but is known to all. In the 

 old male, this color is richly tinged with a wine shade on the breast where 

 most of the feathers have blackish centres ; those of the head and breast have 

 their edges of a darker shade of color giving a scaled appearance. The top 

 of the head is shaded with bluish and this color gradually shades into 

 brownish dove color on the back. There are iridescent metallic spots on 

 some of the feathers of the shoulders. The wings are brownish gray when 

 closed, but when the bird takes flight, the bright cinnamon of the inner webs 

 shows plainly. The tail is dark brown, the outer feathers having narrow 

 white tips. The female is similar to her mate, but generally paler and more 

 grayish in tone. The young at first are like the female but much duller, and 

 the feathers are marginal with lighter shades of their ground color, some- 

 times almost white. The birds are found throughout the Southern States 

 from North Carolina south. They are generally resident and breed through- 

 out their range, building a characteristic pigeon nest of dead twigs loosely 

 laid toofether with now and then some straws or even a few feathers added 

 and placed on the ground or in a low bush. Two white eggs are laid rather 

 more than four fifths of an inch long and two thirds of an inch in their other 

 diameter. 



This is a bird about ten inches long, which looks very like the Mourn- 

 ing Dove, except that it has a square tail, the feathers of which are tipped with 

 ashy gray. It is found on the Florida Keys, but is not 

 enaida Dove. common, being much more abundant in the West Indies 



Zenaida zenaida (Bonap.). i t-» i ' t • i l 



and the Bahamas. Its nest is on or near the ground, and 

 two white egfsfs are laid rather larofer than those of the Mournino- Dove. 



