TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISOENCES. 95 



bent and thick branch of a mes- 

 quite or oak tree, and often also 

 the nest is built directly on the 

 elongated and flat part of a thick 

 limb just sufficiently supplied with 

 a few dry grass particles or thin 

 tree branches to prevent the eggs 

 from rolling off the nest and to 

 support the dove to breed upon. 

 Such a nest with the dove on a 



is often so meager that the dove 

 nest is not seen, and unless the 

 dove flutters , away , no , such nest 

 is suspected. 



In some pastures and b'rush 

 thickets occasionally a dove nest, 

 and as I have myself seen lately, 

 quite a number of them seek 

 the old and deserted nests of 

 some other prairie bird, especially 



Wild Dove on an Old' Mocking Bird's Nest 

 (From Nature by the Writer) 



lower mesquite branch is depicted 

 elsewhere. This view was taken in 

 the mesquite thickets of a popular 

 hunting ground near San Antonio, 

 where hundreds and thousands 

 of wild doves breed annually and 

 supply the local hunting fraternity 

 with game during the legal hunting 

 season. 



The nest material of these birds 



the mocking bird's nest, and lay 

 therein their two snow-white eggs. 

 In one instance I encountered 

 what seemed to be a red bird's 

 nest in which two young doves 

 a few days old, were snugly 

 peering into the world; it was 

 close to the Goliad road, near 

 Alex Uhl's pasture. As a rule 

 however, the wild dove builds 



