204 IN THE MIDDLE COUNTRY. 



After this episode in my dove acquaintance, I 

 was more than ever interested in getting at the 

 mode of expression in the family, and I listened 

 on every occasion. One day two doves alighted 

 over my head when I was sitting perfectly still, 

 and I distinctly heard very low talk, like that of 

 my lost baby ; there was, in addition, a note or 

 two like the coo, but exceedingly low. I could 

 not have heard a sound ten feet from the tree, 

 nor if I had been stirring myself. I observed 

 also that a dove can fly in perfect silence ; and, 

 moreover, that the whistle of the wings some- 

 times continues after the bird has become still. 

 I heard the regular coo the whole four-note 

 performance both in a whisper and in the 

 ordinary tone, and the latter, though right over 

 my head, sounded a mile away. At the end of 

 my month's study I was convinced that the dove 

 is far from being a silent bird ; on the contrary, 

 he is quite a talker, with the " low, sweet voice " 

 so much desired in other quarters. And further, 

 that the whistling is not produced wholly (if at 

 all) by the wings, and it is a gross injustice to 

 assert that he is not capable of expressing him- 

 self at all times and seasons. 



