OF ARTS AND SCIENCES. 95 



for bedding." Mr. C. F. Goodhue, of Webster, tells me that 

 as a boy, some forty years ago, he remembers seeing great 

 flocks of these birds flying northward in early spring, forming 

 a solid phalanx, with a front of a rod or so broad, and extend- 

 ing to either horizon. They still bred at Webster according to 

 Mr. Goodhue ('77a, p. 113) in the '70's, and I am informed by 

 an old inhabitant of the town of Conway that some fort}^ years 

 ago great numbers nested on the Rattlesnake Range of hills in 

 that towUvShip. Dr. W. H. Fox, writes me that they were for- 

 merly very common at Hollis in the southern part of the state, 

 and used to be netted extensively in the '70's; one nest was 

 found, and the last flock seen was in 1880. There is a mounted 

 specimen in the Public lyibrary at Acworth, taken at that town, 

 October 10, 1881, and is the most recent specimen from the state 

 that I know of, though Mr. W. W. Flint, of Concord, writes 

 me that the last Passenger Pigeon of which he has any recollec- 

 tion was shot near his house in the summer of 1885, when the 

 birds were already rare. 



Dates : April 2 to October 10. 



99. Zenaidura iiiacroura (Ivinn.). Mourning Dove. 

 A not uncommon summer resident of the Transition country 

 in the southeastern part of the state, along the seacoast and es- 

 pecially in the bottom lands of the Merrimack valley where it is 

 fairly common about Concord and farther up at Franklin. On 

 the coast, Mr. A. A. Eaton writes that it is quite common at 

 Seabrook, nesting in slender pines, and Mr. W. K. Cram notes 

 it as a summer bird at Hampton Falls. Dr. W. H. Fox says 

 it was formerl}^ rare at Hollis, but has since become commoner. 

 In the western part of the state, the bird is only of occasional oc- 

 currence in the southern Connecticut valley, where a few prob- 

 ably work up from the south. Thus Mr. W. M. Buswell writes 

 me of having several times seen a bird or two in the spring and 

 early summer of 1898, and again in April, 1899, at Charlestown. 

 Beyond this, I have no information of its presence in the Con- 

 necticut valley. Mr. F. H. Allen informs me of a single female 

 seen about the last of June, 1894, so far to the northward as 

 Waterville, on the outskirts of the White Mountains. The bird 



