Doves and Pigeons. 



Order, Colnmlxxe. 

 Family, Columhidae. 



Family Characteristics: "Dove-color" or soft irridescent brown- 

 ish drab. Rarely seen alone, generally in pairs or flocks. Rapid 

 fliers. Two white eggs at a sitting. Can be recognized from similar- 

 ity to our common pigeon. They have very large crops for birds of 

 their size and live mostly on the seeds of weeds. They are the far- 

 mer's best friend. 



316. MOURNING DOVE. (Turtle Dove.) Zenaidura Macroura. 

 Length twelve inches. Bluish drab or "dove color" above. Breast 

 lighter. A sheen on neck the color of the iris flower. Black bill. 

 Red feet. 



315. PASSENGER PIGEON. Ectopistes migratorius. So rare 

 that a description is not needed. The bird is almost extinct though 

 men living today can remember when flocks of them almost obscured 

 the sunlight. Their nesting in colonies made them easy prey for 

 gunners. 



MOURNING DOVE (TURTLE DOVE). 



There are birds as well as blossoms that follow m the trail 

 of the traveler, and many of them have shared with the settler 

 the difficulties and the dangers of readjustment. How much 

 longer, I wonder, will it take the mourning dove to learn that she 

 must build a better nest if she would rear her young where the 

 Dakota zephyrs outmoan her? Thousands of their nests are 

 scattered by "every stormy wind that blows," and many a pair 

 of bare babies fall to earth, never to rise again. It doubtless took 

 them decades to become "as wise as serpents" and to change the 

 location of their "wiekyups" from the ground to the trees in 

 order to save their babies from being swallowed alive, and by the 

 time they learn the capers of our winds, nature may temper the 

 storms until they become as "harmless as doves." The winds 

 can't blow always, you know. Nothing does. 



