238 Birds of Buzzard's Roost 



long-legged, smooth-plumaged birds, with a peculiar, more or 

 less irredescent, grayish and brownish coloration. When 

 drinking they do not raise the head as other birds do to swal- 

 low, but keep the bill immersed until the draught is finished. 

 The young are born naked and fed by regurgitation. 



The bill of the adult male mourning dove is black ; eye 

 of a glossy blackness, surrounded with a pale greenish blue 

 skin ; forehead and sides of neck a pale brown vinaceous ; 

 crown, upper part of the neck and wings a fine silky slate blue ; 

 under the ears a spot of deep black, immediately below which 

 the plumage reflects the most vivid tints of green, gold and 

 crimson ; chin pale yellow ochre ; back, scapulars and lesser 

 wing coverts ashy brown ; tertials spotted with black ; pri- 

 maries edged and tipped with white; tail long, cuneiform and 

 consists of fourteen feathers; the four exterior ones on each 

 side are marked with black about an inch from the tips, and 

 white thence to the extremity ; the next has less of white at 

 the tip; these gradually lengthen to the four middle ones, 

 which are wholly dark slate ; all of them taper toward the 

 points, the two middle ones most so ; .belly and vent whitish ; 

 legs and feet coral red, seamed with white. The adult female 

 is about an inch shorter than the male and of a less brilliant 

 color; she also lacks the rich silky blue on the crown of the 

 male and much of the splendor of his neck. 



The mourning dove in some places is a permanent resi- 

 dent and in others a migrant. Its range extends from the 

 West Indies and Mexico north to southern Maine, Quebec, On- 

 tario, Manitoba and British Columbia. It winters from south- 

 ern New York, southern Illinois, Kansas and southern Califor- 

 nia southward. Those that migrate to the Middle West come 

 north in March and return south in November. In flight the 

 bird makes a whistling noise with its wings, and by Mr. Ern- 

 est Seton Thompson it is called "Whistling Wings." When 

 in repose the wings and tail of the mourning dove and the yel- 

 low-billed cuckoo, which it much resembles, are held in the re- 

 verse position the wings of the first overlapping the drooping 

 tail, and of the second extending under an uplifted tail. 



They mate early and nesting commences about the middle 

 of April. As a rule the nest is built in various kinds of bushes, 



