324 USEFUL BIRDS. 
Mourning Dove. Carolina Dove. Turtle Dove. 
e Zenardura macroura. 
Length. — Nearly twelve inches. 
Adult Male.— Upper parts mainly grayish-blue, shaded with olive-brown; head 
and neck brown, with a bluish overcast; sides of neck iridescent, with red- 
dish and golden reflections; a black spot below the ear; outer tail feathers 
and wing feathers show bluish when spread; all outer tail feathers have 
a black bar and a white tip; tail rather elongated and pointed; lower 
parts purplish, changing to yellowish on belly, bluish on sides, and whitish 
on chin. ‘ 
Adult Female.— Similar, but duller. 
Young. — Grayer than female; many feathers have whitish edgings. 
Nest.— A mere platform of sticks, at a moderate height in a tree, near trunk. 
Eggys.— Two; white. 
Season. — April to October. 
The Mourning Dove was never so abundant in this State 
as the Passenger. Pigeon, for Massachusetts is near the north- 
ern border of its range; still, it was once common where 
it is now rare, particularly in western Massachusetts, but it 
is now so uncommon generally as to be of little economic 
importance. In some parts of Middlesex, Plymouth, and 
Barnstable counties it is still common locally in spring 
and summer, and its mournful cooing is heard almost daily. 
A variety of notes has been attributed to this species, 
but I can recall only the “coo,” and a twittering sound that 
appears to be made by the wings when it first rises in flight. 
This Dove is of no great value as an insect eater, for it 
feeds largely on seeds. Wheat, oats, rye, corn, and barley 
are all eaten, forming about thirty-two per cent. of the food, 
but perhaps three-fourths of this is waste grain picked up 
in the fields. Buckwheat is a favorite food. Some grain is 
taken from newly sown fields, but the greater part. of the 
food consists of weed seeds. Nash says that the crops of 
these birds are often so full of seeds that, if a bird is shot, 
the crop bursts open when it strikes the ground. He says 
that bindweed is a favorite food. A Dove that was exam- 
ined at the Department of Agriculture was found to contain 
ninety-two hundred seeds, mostly those of noxious weeds, 
and none of useful plants. This was rather an unusual num- 
ber, but it shows what the bird is capable of doing as a 
helper on the farm. 
