Vol.XXVIII 

 1911 



Craig, Emotion in the Mourning Dove. 405 



A. M., she cooed. The song of the female, you remember, is not 

 heard very often, and the effect of this coo upon the male was 

 electrical: he rose majestically to his feet and strutted on tip-toe 

 around the female; then he cooed once, and charged upon her; 

 he chased her all about the cage, stopping three or four times to 

 coo. This charging and driving the female is a regular part of 

 the courting performance. Courtship, having thus recommenced, 

 proceeded daily with singing and charging and some show of anger, 

 for there were Ring-Doves in an adjoining cage which aroused the 

 jealousy of the male. 



The nest-call was not heard until July 12. On hearing it, I put 

 in one corner of the cage an artificial nest made of straws in a 

 cigar box. The male dove, however, tried different corners of 

 the cage again and again and again before he finally settled upon 

 the nesting place. Each time that he went to a new corner of 

 the cage he put his head down to see if he could comfortably nest- 

 call there: if he succeeded in getting comfortably into the nest- 

 calling attitude, then he proceeded to nest-call until the female 

 came to him. In one case he called thus for four or five minutes, 

 repeating his refrain forty-five times; then at last the female was 

 aroused and ran excitedly to him. Each time the female thus 

 came to the male in his chosen corner, they both huddled close in 

 that corner caressing one another ecstatically for many minutes 

 together, the male continuing, though at longer intervals, to repeat 

 the nest-call. By this performance, the pair come to an agreement 

 upon a nesting-site, fix the location of it in their memories, and in a 

 true sense consecrate that spot as their home, their temple. 



After the nest site, by means of such ceremonies, has been con- 

 clusively fixed and dedicated, the female usually remains in the 

 nest to build and fashion it while the male goes off to seek straws 

 and fetch them to her. Each time he returns with a straw there 

 is a little exchange of caresses between the two birds, and either 

 may at this time sound the nest-call. The song or perch-coo also 

 is given during this period of site hunting and nest building, but 

 the song is far less frequent than the nest-call, and of course is 

 not given in the nest. Nest-calling and its accompanying cere- 

 monies continue unabated until the female enters the nest to lay 

 her first egg; then they are dropped rather suddenly, giving place 



