THE MOURNING-DOVE 



THOMAS NUTTALL 



THIS almost familiar pigeon in the course of the spring 

 leisurely migrates through the interior as far as Canada, 

 though in the eastern States it is rarely met with to the north 

 of Connecticut. Many appear sedentary in the warmer States, 

 where they breed as far south as Louisiana. They are also 

 said to inhabit the Antilles, and we saw them not uncommon 

 in the territory of Oregon. In the warmer parts of the Union 

 they commence laying early in April, and in South Carolina I 

 heard their plaintive coo on the 29th of January; but at the 

 extremity of their range they scarcely begin to breed before 

 the middle of May. They lay usually two eggs, of a pure 

 white, and make their nest in the horizontal branches of a 

 tree. It is made up of a mere platform of twigs so loosely and 

 slovenly put together as to appear scarcely sufficient to 

 prevent the young from falling out. 



By the first fine days of the early southern spring we hear 

 from the budding trees of the forest, or the already blooming 

 thicket, the mournful call of this Cafolina Turtle-dove, com- 

 mencing, as it were, with a low and plaintive sigh, a gh coo coo 

 coo, repeated at impressive intervals of half a minute, and 

 heard distinctly to a considerable distance through the still 

 and balmy air of the reviving season. This sad but pleasing 

 note is also more distinguished at this time, as it seeks the 

 noon-day warmth in which to utter its complaint, and where it 

 is then heard without a rival. 



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