BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 113 



a Wild Pig-eon called the flyer with its eyes sewed shut, which they 

 threw out, and another which they made hover by means of a string 

 from the bough-house. In this way large quantities of pigeons were 

 decoyed, and as they were about to alight the net was sprung- over 

 them. Pigeon catching was quite a business with some. The flyer and 

 stool pigeons were kept during the year in cages so as to have a stool 

 pigeon to commence with in the spring. No pigeons have been here for 

 the last fifteen years." The nest, generally placed in a tree, sometimes 

 in bushes, is a flat and frail platform of sticks, so carelessly placed that 

 the eggs, one or two in number, can be seen from below. The eggs 

 measure about one and one-half inches long- and a little over one inch 

 broad. 



"GENUS ZENAIDURA BONAPARTE. 

 Zenaidura macroura (LiNN.). 



Mourning Dove ; Turtle Dove. 



DESCRIPTION (Plate 71). 



Tail of fourteen feathers ; length about 13 inches ; extent about 18 ; bill slender and 

 mostly black ; feet purplish -red; eyes brown ; upper parts olive-brown and bluish- 

 gray ; lower parts faint purplish or brownish-red, becoming much lighter behind ; 

 neck glossed with metallic purple and gold. Female and young somewhat similar 

 but duller. 



Habitat. North America, from southern Maine, southern Canada and Oregon 

 south to Panama and the West Indies. 



The only species with which the Mourning Dove, so called from its 

 note, can possibly be confounded is the Wild Pigeon, from which it can 

 readily be distinguished if the following facts are remembered : The 

 dove measures about thirteen inches in length and eighteen inches in 

 alar extent ; the pigeon about seventeen by twenty -five inches. So, first 

 we find a marked difference in size. Secondly, the dove has fourteen 

 tail feathers ; the pig-eon has but twelve ; again, the eyes of the dove are 

 brown, while those of the pigeon are red. ' This bird is found in several 

 of the southern counties of Pennsylvania during all seasons of the year, 

 and at times other than when breeding is gregarious. During the sum- 

 mer time it is found generally throughout the state. In March, the 

 flocks which have been observed during the winter about the fields and 

 orchards, separate and begin their love-making. The nest, a carelessly 

 constructed affair, is made up entirely of small sticks, and is generally 

 found placed on a large limb of a tree in an apple orchard. On the 

 barren ridge, in eastern Pennsylvania, I have on several occasions found 

 these birds nesting in pine trees ; the eggs are two in number, white 

 and unspotted. Sometimes these birds will occupy nests which have 

 been deserted by other species. I once, some few years ago, found a 



8BIKDS. 



