142 COLUMBIM: : PIGEONS. 



stump or log, or even on the ground oftenest in the 

 fork of some branch at no great elevation ; it is always 

 slight and frail, open-worked of twigs, with little or no 

 softer material. The arrivals are mostly during the 

 latter part of April, and the pairing and cooing begin 

 as soon as a residence is selected. The greater number 

 depart in October, only hardy loiterers remaining during 

 the inclement season. The migrations are thus more 

 orderly and regular than the movements of the Wild 

 Pigeon, which wanders with such wayward and irresist- 

 ible impulse in search of food. At the same time, it 

 cannot be denied that in New England the distribution 

 of the species is quite local, the birds being not uncom- 

 mon in places where the food they prefer is most plen- 

 tiful and accessible, yet scarcely known in neighboring 

 localities. They are extremely fond of buckwheat ; and 

 regions where the grain is cultivated always furnish 

 Doves in season. The same restriction and partial dis- 

 tribution occurs in the arid regions of the southwestern 

 territories, but for a different reason the scarcity of 

 water. In Arizona, for example, there is no water-hole 

 in all that parched land without its Doves, though the 

 birds will scarcely be seen in the intervening desert 

 reaches. Most of the Arizona " rivers " have no water 

 in them ; and in that extraordinary country, where 

 everything goes by contraries, the sight of a Dove is a 

 surer sign of water than the site of a stream. The 

 Dove there shows the opposite character it acquired in 

 the days of Noah, as a herald of dry land. 



