BiitDS OF Indiana. 765 



67. Genus ZENAIDURA Bonapartil 



*126. (316). Zenaidura macroura (Linn.). 



Mournings Dove. 



Synonyms, Carolina Dove, Tuktle-Dove. 



Adult Male. — Brownish-olive, glossed with blue on the crown and 

 nape; below, purplish-red, becoming tawny- white on the vent and 

 crissum; neck, metallic-golden; a velvety-black spot on the auriculars 

 and others on the wing coverts and scapulars; middle tail feathers, 

 like back; the rest, ashy-blue at the base, then crossed by a black bar, 

 then white or ashy-white; bill, very slender, black; feet, carmine. 

 Adult Female. — Paler, less metallic lustre. Immature.- — Similar to 

 female, but feathers with paler edges; no distinct black spot beneath 

 ear. 



Length, 11.00-13.00; wing, 5.70-6.10; tail, 5.70-6.50. 



Kange. — North America, from Panama and West Indies north to 

 southern Maine, Canada and British Columbia. Breeds throughout 

 the United States. Winters in Indiana and New York southward. 



Nest, of twigs, in bush, tree, or on stump, log or ground. Eggs, 1 or 

 2; white; 1.10 by .84. 



Common summer resident northward; southward, common resident. 

 In the lower Wabash and lower Whitewater valleys they often spend 

 the winter in small flocks, frequenting chosen places. Years when 

 snow stays long on the ground -they are to be found about comcribs 

 and places where stock is fed. Some winters they are quite common. 

 In the spring of 1883 all the specimens shot at Wheatland, Indiana, 

 had the ends of their toes frozen off, showing that they had braved 

 the almost unprecedented cold of the preceding winter. (Eidgway, 

 Birds of 111., I, p. 499.) 



A few pass the winter as far north as Terre Haute (Blatchley), Car- 

 roll County, Monroe County (Evermann), Brown (Kindle), Eichmond 

 (McCoy), Wabash (TJlrey and Wallace). Some winters they are found 

 to the northern limits of the State, and even into Michigan, Wisconsin, 

 and Ontario. 



Their migrations in spring depend upon the season; sometimes they 

 appear in middle and northern Indiana in February; usually they 

 are seen by the middle of March, but in the extreme northern part of 

 the State and in the vicinity of Chicago the records show that some 

 years they do not appear until early in April. 



In autumn they remain into November. Generally the greater 

 number have left northern Indiana the first week of that month. They 



