BIRDS OF KANSAS 123 



manner. His mournful cooing love note, so pleasing to the 

 female, wafts to nij ears one of the saddest sounds in na- 

 ture. The birds while mated are true and devoted to each 

 other. At the close of the breeding season they collect to- 

 gether in small flocks, usually family groups. 



Their nests are placed on the forks of Ioav, horizontal 

 branches of trees, on grape vines, and upon the ground; 

 when built off the ground, a loose slight platform, con- 

 structed of twigs, a few stems of grass, and leaves. Eggs 

 two, 1.12x.85; white; in form, elliptical to ovaL 



XL.— PASSEI^GEE PIGEOK 



Ectopistes migratorius (Linn.). 



Irregular summer resident; rare; a few to my knowl- 

 edge breed occasionally in the l^eosho valley. Arrive early 

 in March ; begin laying by the middle of April. 



Habitat. Eastern Xortli America, from Hudson's 

 Bay southward, and west to the Great Plains; casually 

 westward to IN'evada and Washington; Cuba. 



Iris red; bill and claws black; legs and feet lake red. 



This species — commonly called the Wild Pigeon — so 

 abundant formerly, is fast disappearing, though still to 

 be found in numbers within the Indian Territory and 

 portions of the southern States. They are irregular Avan- 

 derers, the gypsies among birds ; their natural home, how- 

 ever, is within the wooded lands, and they are therefore 

 seldom met Avitli upon the broad prairies. 



The folloAving interesting description of these birds is 

 from " E'orth American Land Birds," Vol. Ill, p. 370 : 



" The Wild Pigeon appears to be almost entirely in- 

 fluenced in its migrations by the abundance of its food, 



