402 Craig, Emotion in the Mourning Dove. |_Oct. 



strain as rendered by the bird. This song is always given singly, 

 never in a series of repetitions, differing in this respect from the 

 songs of the Ring-Doves and many other species. 



When delivering his song, the Mourning Dove does not perform 

 any dance or gesture, as some birds do. He invariably stands still 

 when cooing; even when he coos in the midst of pursuing the 

 female he stops in the chase, stands immovable until the coo is 

 completed, and then runs on. His attitude is, to be sure, very 

 definite, the neck somewhat arched and the whole body rigid; but 

 the impression it gives one is, not that the bird is striking an atti- 

 tude, but that he is simply holding every muscle tense in the effort 

 of a difficult performance. 



The female also utters the perch-coo, though less often than the 

 male, and in a thin, weak voice and staccato tones, which, as 

 compared with the male's song, form so ludicrous a caricature that 

 on first hearing it I burst out laughing. A human burlesquer 

 could not make a more clever travesty. The female's song seems 

 abortive in another way also, in that it is very variable. Four 

 variations of it are represented in the following notations (Nos. 

 2-5). 



o lo dl 



First note hoarse, chest-tone. 

 Second and third notes clear head-tones. 



The Coo. (b) The Nest-Call. The male Mourning Dove, not 

 content with one exquisite lay, sounds also a nest-call which is 

 very different in expression and in its way as perfect as the song. 

 This call is much shorter than the song, and much fainter, so that 

 the field observer may fail ever to hear it. Its typical form is of 

 three notes, a low, a high, and a low, thus somewhat resembling 



