550 THE MOURNING DOVE. 
~ 
some cases at least, incubation was performed by the bird seated casually on 
horizontal limbs without resort to nesting. Thereto partially agrees the testi- 
mony of a rancher in Whatcom County, who tells me that he once shot a 
Pigeon which was sitting in a maple tree in front of his house. The bird fell 
tumbling and struggling and struck on its back; and when he went to pick it 
up he found an unbroken egg be- 
side it, an egy which bore no sign 
of having been recently extruded. 
Incubation, according to Captain 
Bendire, lasts from eighteen to 
twenty days. and both parents 
assist. The young grow rapidly, 
and leave the nest at the end of a 
month. 
While it may be freely admitted 
that the Band-tailed Pigeon is a 
fair game bird, and affords excel- 
lent eating in the fall, it is high 
time to call a halt upon its indis- 
criminate slaughter. The species is 
not hardy nor prolific, and at the 
present rate of consumption it will 
BAND-TAILED PIGEON soon be as rare as the Passenger 
Pigeon of the East. Let us not 
wait for clumsy and tardy laws upon the subject, but let common sense prevail 
over individual selfishness. Instead of feasting on Pigeon pot-pie weekly, or 
until it becomes a commonplace, let the hunters of the few favored localities 
which remain content themselves with a half-day’s shooting, a mess of ten 
or a dozen birds each season. And remember, if you please, that the rest 
of us like Pigeon, too. 
No. 224. 
MOURNING DOVE. 
v \. ©. U. No. 316. Zenaidura macroura carolinensis ( Linn.) 
Synonyms.—WiLtp Dove. Turtie Dove. CaroLtina Dove. 
Description.—Adult male: General color of upperparts olive-gray or drab, 
with glaucous bloom and changeable metallic reflections on hind-neck and ante- 
rior marginal areas of wings; with bright purplish red iridescence on the sides 
of the neck; the lower scapulars and inner quills broadly but sparingly black- 
spotted; hind head bluish slate; remainder of head light drab with a vinaceous 
