MOURNING DOVE. These birds would undoubt- 

 edly become abundant were 

 it not for the "dove drives" indulged in around Aiken> 

 during the winter and the legal killing in August. 

 The birds are not only being kept from increasing but 

 are on the decrease and I fear greatly for their preser- 

 vation. Great numbers of them are annually killed 

 and as I have said, the present status of the species' 

 abundance does not allow it. 



TURKEY AND BLACK VULTURES. These dis- 

 tinctively 

 southern birds are abundant in Aiken. To one who is 

 familiar with the birds the two species may be readily 

 distinguished from one another in life, but to one un- 

 acquainted with them their similarity is often puz- 

 zling. Some of the marks which I have found most 

 useful in field distinction are : the fact that the flight 

 of the Turkey is far slower than that of the Black; 

 the tail of the latter is shorter ; and that during flight 

 the Turkey rarely flaps its wings and then only a sin- 

 gle lazy flap, whereas the Black flaps often and five 

 or six times in rapid succession. 



RED-HEADED WOODPECKER. This bird is al- 

 most exclusively 

 confined to the village of Aiken, only occasional indi- 

 viduals being observed in the country thereabout. 

 They nest mostly in the telegraph poles, though they 

 frequently choose Oak trees. Every street in the 

 town has two or three pairs of this species and I have 

 counted fifteen of these birds in a walk of ten minutes. 

 One of their habits is to fly out from a pole, catch an 



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