THE MOURNING DOVE. 19 



and the only one we have ever seen which had a 

 natural look.) 



If the visitor were a gentleman, the dove flew 

 straight to his bare head and peeped over his 

 forehead, as if to see what color his eyes were. 

 But Dovie always preferred ladies and girls; and 

 children she loved, flying back and forth from 

 one to another as if delighted to see them. In 

 spring she began to peep into the closets and over 

 the shelves, and in the baskets and hats and 

 paper bags. All the time she would "coo-oo" 

 low to herself, and sometimes fly to our shoulders 

 and rub her pretty head on our cheeks and caress 

 our faces with her beak. 



One day one of the family was making ginger- 

 cookies, and went to the closet for the spices. 

 There, on top of the spice-box, was a handful of 

 twine, and in the middle of the twine a white egg. 



After this, during the summer, Dovie made 

 seven nests and laid seven eggs. She never laid 

 more than one egg in the same place. And the 

 nests were light and loose, just as the nests of the 

 mourning dove are made in the wilds. No at- 

 tempt at building up the sides, or at soft linings. 

 Sometimes she took only bits of white cloth and 

 strings, and twice she went to the work-basket 

 and selected pretty bits of lace and baby ribbon. 



