PIGEONS AND DOVES. 15 



SPECIES ERRONEOUSLY CONSIDERED GAME BIRDS. 



PIGEONS AND DOVES. 



The order Columbte, comprising wild pigeons and doves, is repre- 

 sented in the United States by 15 species and subspecies. Of these, 

 only three have any practical importance as game birds, viz, the pas- 

 senger pigeon {Eetopistes migratoritis), now almost exterminated; the 

 band-tailed pigeon (Oolvmba fasciata), found from the Rocky Moun- 

 tains to the Pacific coast, and the common, mourning, turtle, or Carolina 

 dove (Zeiialdi/mmacroiirti), distributed more or less generally through- 

 out the United States. The wild pigeon is now rarely seen except in 



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Fig. 1. — Mourning dove (Zenaidura macroura). 



two or three of the States about the Great Lakes, where it is rigidly 

 protected. 1 Although it was formerly one of the most important game 

 birds of the country, its numbers have been so diminished during the 

 last thirty or forty years that it can no longer be considered as belong- 

 ing in the game list. The band-tailed pigeon is an important game 

 bird in only half a dozen States, and Colorado seems to be the only 

 one which provides an open season (July 15 to September 30). The 

 common dove (fig. 1) is protected in some States throughout the year, 

 in others only during the breeding season, while in still others it is not 

 mentioned in the laws, and hence may be killed at any season. (See 

 frontispiece.) Where it is abundant, as in southern California and 



1 The Provinces of Manitoba and Quebec, however, exclude it from the list of pro- 

 tected birds (see pp. 37, 86, 89). 



