94 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISOENOES. 



The Wild Dove in Texas and Its Nest 



June, July and August are the 

 main nest building and breeding 

 times of the wild dove of Texas, 

 but they breed up to September, 

 and the writer as well as local 

 hunters often have encountered 

 the nest of wild doves either 

 with eggs or young doves in them 

 during the entire month of October. 

 The main breeding time, however, 

 is about over at the end of August. 



oak trees and the cedar and 

 other forest trees give them protec- 

 tion to build their nests, and it 

 makes a fascinating impression 

 to wander through some post 

 oak forest during the breeding 

 time of our wild dove and listen 

 to their melodious cooing. 



The nest of these doves is about 

 the plainest affair of nest-building 

 of any bird species. (See the 



Tex«s Dove Nest and Eggs on Curved Limb, Inside a Berry Brush 



During their breeding time in 

 the remote prairie plains and large 

 pastures throughout Texas, they 

 generally select a tree in the 

 neighborhood of a tank; and in 

 the thickest of hilly regions covered 

 with mesquite, oak or hackberry 

 trees, large numbers of dove- 

 breeding nests can be encountered 

 and always with preference on 

 some mesquite tree, and in forest 

 and mountainous regions, the high 



fine photos herein with nests and 

 eggs — especially prepared for these 

 pages. They simply gather a 

 few dry grass or wood parti- 

 cles and deposit them 

 eggs in normal size — especially 

 prepared for this Field issue. They 

 simply gather a few dry grass or 

 wood particles and deposit them 

 on some mesquite tree branch. 

 They' generally select a fork or 

 bifurcation of a tree or a slightly 



