118 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



or rather in passing some low 

 mesquite brush. Suddenly a wild 

 dove fluttered from its nest over 

 the ground to some nearby brush 

 thicket; and, though only a com- 

 mon dove nest, it was so attractive 

 that I could not help taking a 

 view of it — as here reproduced. 

 The nest, similar to the one of a 

 prairie sparrow, was situated on 

 the ground in the shade of a small 

 bushy mesquite tree and sur- 

 rounded with small flint rocks 



nearly full-grown doves, and it 

 was a beautiful sight for a snap- 

 shot, but I had approached some- 

 what too close, when the old dove 

 flew off the nest, which, of course, 

 was not molested. But on another 

 occasion a breeding dove on a 

 mockingbird nest was encounter- 

 ed which I luckily happened to 

 reproduce satisfactorily, and as 

 seen elsewhere Usually the old 

 dove fills the old abandoned nest 

 of some other bird with a few par- 



WiLD Dove Nest on the Ground 



and numbers of small prairie 

 snails. The nest itself was a very 

 plain affair, built only with a 

 • little dry grass, and protected 

 above by some mesquite leaves 

 and the branches of a small mes- 

 quite bush (not seen on the near- 

 focused view of the nest). 



Not far from this interesting 

 encounter, I met two breeding 

 doves, both sitting on the forked 

 limb of a mesquite tree on some 

 old abandoned nest, and one was 

 in its nest in the center of two 



tides of dry ^rass or small branch 

 particles, whilst the large major- 

 ity of wild doves build their own 

 plain and typical nest, usually of 

 flat shape, on a broad mesquite 

 limb, more frequently between or 

 close to the bifurcated or rounded 

 limb of some tree, as can be seen 

 on the illustration herein of a 

 typical prairie dove nest and eggs. 

 From the many injurious influ- 

 ences, especially storms and rains, 

 and the apparent decline in num- 

 bers of the wild dove, I wonder 



