[32.8] BIRDS OF OREGON 



notes in the files of the Biological Survey. In eastern Oregon, it is an 

 abundant bird in all counties, coming north in late March and early 

 April and remaining in numbers until late September and early October. 

 It is most abundant in the Upper Sonoran and Transition Zones of that 

 part of the State, although it is common in the mountains up to 7,000 

 feet. It is an uncommon winter resident along the Columbia and Snake 

 Rivers. We have winter records for Umatilla (January 11, February 17 

 and 2.2.), Wasco (January 2.5), and Malheur (December 6) Counties. In 

 western Oregon, it remains in small numbers through the winter. There 

 are winter records for Multnomah, Polk, Yamhill, eastern Lane, Jackson, 

 and Josephine Counties. It is much less common on the coast, but it has 

 been noted in Tillamook, Lincoln, western Lane, Coos, and Curry Coun- 

 ties, and is doubtless found from May 2.0 to September 3, though most 

 of the records are for June. Egg laying is spread over a long period, dates 

 for fresh eggs extending from April 2.0 to September 3, with the height 

 of the laying season coming in June. 



These doves are not hunted for food or sport in Oregon, and conse- 

 quently they are tame and unsuspicious in most localities, nesting and 

 living commonly about farms and in smaller towns, where they may be 

 found feeding about the farmyards or seen in a strong and rapid flight, 

 the wings giving off a whistling sound as they flash by. Outside the 

 breeding season they congregate in loose flocks that may be found feed- 

 ing in scattered formation along the roadsides or in cultivated fields or 

 sitting in solemn and dignified rows on the fence wires. When alarmed 

 they take wing, the flock scattering as single birds or in pairs or trios. 

 It is evident that they are not as gregarious as the Band-tailed Pigeons, 

 for the flocks are not usually as large nor as persistent as in that species. 

 In the arid section the doves frequent the vicinity of streams and water 

 holes, feeding out sometimes for long distances into the sage lands. 



The food consists of all sorts of weed seed and grain, the latter largely 

 waste grain. Even when feeding in the ripening grain, the Mourning 

 Doves are so few in numbers in any one field as to cause little apparent 

 damage. They consume enormous quantities of weed seed, the numbers 

 sometimes found in a single stomach reaching almost unbelievable pro- 

 portions. 



