212 THE BIRDS OF MAINE 



Geog. Dist. — North America from southern Maine, southern Canada and 

 British Columbia to Panama and the West Indies, breeding locally throughout 

 its range; wintering from southern Illinois and New York southward 

 throughout its range. 



County Records. — Androscoggin; (Pike). Cumberland; probably a rare 

 summer resident, (Brown, C. B. P. p. 23) ; one in 1898, one in 1900, one in 

 1901, (Lord). Hancock; one seen November 21, 1899 and one March 21, 

 1900 near Bucksport, (Mrs. W. H. Gardner). Knox ; rare in summer, (Rack- 

 liff). Penobscot ; it has occurred on the University of Maine campus in late 

 summer, (Harvey). Sagadahoc; scattering, spring and fall, (Spinney). 

 Washington; accidental, (Boardman). York; one shot at Eliot in the 

 summer of 1893 and three or four seen since, (H. P. Libby). 



The Turtle Dove is a rare straggler into the State, and a rare 

 summer resident of our southwestern sections. It occurs at 

 almost any date from March twenty-first to November twenty- 

 first. Here in Maine they occur only by single individuals or 

 pairs, but in the southern and western states where I was well 

 acquainted with their habits they were frequently found in flocks 

 of forty or fifty in the fall and winter. 



In southern California they frequented the mesas feeding on 

 various weed seeds and also were found in numbers along the 

 river bottoms. When they took wing they made a peculiar 

 whistling sound with their wings. As spring approached and 

 they commence to pair the mournful drawn out "ah-co-o-o-o-c-o-o 

 o — c — o~o — o — oo-o" of the the male wooing its mate frequently 

 resounded through the air, sounding like the wail of a banshee 

 or some departed spirit bemoaning its sad lot. This is varied 

 by taking frequent flights up to a height of thirty feet and sail- 

 ing downward to alight again. 



Both birds aid in building the nest which is a mere platform 

 of sticks or sometimes the deserted nest of a Grackle, Robin or 

 some other bird is used. In the east the nest is placed in trees, 

 usually in hardwood varieties, but in the west some low bush or 

 the branches of the "prickly pair" are often utilized. Almost 

 invariably two eggs are laid, these almost always making a 

 pair of birds, one of each sex. 



The eggs are pure white and two from a nest in a willow 



