64 



THE UNVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA 



In the mixed diet tests, each bird ate an average of 5g. of 

 bread and milk and 9.6g of seeds and grain, making a total of 

 14.6g. The six feeding tests of seeds and grain alone average 

 ll.Sg. a day for each bird. If v^^e average D's. and F's. November 

 morning weights we find they ate 14.7 per cent of their weight 

 each day when on a mixe-i diet. If we average their weights for 

 both Novembt-r aaad December we find that the ate 11.8 per cent of 

 their v.'eight each day when given grain and seeds alone. 



I found (1910) that bobwhites in captivity ate on an average 

 I5g. of seeds and grain in a day, and 24.5g. of seeds, grain and 

 grasshoppers a day, i. e. 12g. of grain and 12. 5g of insects. Count- 

 ing I70g. as an average weight for an adult bobwhite, we find they 

 ate 8.8 per cent of their weight each day when confined to seeds and 

 grain, but 14.4 per cent of theirweight when on a mixed diet. This 

 is almost exactly the same as the mourning doves for mixed diet 

 but bobwhites ate less of grain and seeds alone in proportion to 

 their weight than the doves. 



TABLE IV. 



Proportion of Daily Food to Body Weight in the Mourning Dove 



and Bobwhite. 



It must be remembered that birds in captivity take compara- 

 tively little exercise and doubtless eat less than those that are wild. 



If one cares to make calculations on the basis of 11. 8g. a day, 

 64 per cent of which should be weed seeds, and counting 1096 seeds 

 to a gra, which I found to be the average of 23 different kinds of 

 weeds seeds (1910), the result will be 8,275 weed seeds eaten a day 

 by a mourning dove and 3,020,375 eaten in a year. 



SUMMARY. 



1. One dove was always tame and gentle with people, but 

 cruel to weaker members of his kind. The other dove became timid 

 as soon as he could feed himself. Neither bird showed curiosity 

 nor discriminated between persons. 



2. D. used the begging note until four weeks old ; a "puttt" 



