48 HOME STUDIES IN NATURE. 



The diminutive ground-dove (Ohamospeleiapassermd) 

 is also an inhabitant of the grove. This charming spe- 

 cies is about six inches in length. The general color is 

 a lustrous steel-blue, but the sides of the head and neck 

 are purplish-red color, more brilliant in the male ; slen- 

 der lines of black ornament the upper surface of the 

 wings, while the under surface is suffused with a bright 

 pink hue. These little doves are fully as tame as most 

 domesticated pigeons. 



Like the cardinal - grossbeak, during winter they live 

 together harmoniously in communities, but towards 

 spring the monogamic family relation is assumed; and 

 so quietly do they arrange their domestic affairs that we 

 do not know how or when it is accomplished ; we only 

 see that the ranks are thinning. A pair select a new 

 home, and no longer return to the old, notwithstanding 

 the bread and cracker crumbs with which they have 

 been regaled. 



Early in April all are gone but one pair, and these 

 are becoming very tame. By the middle of April 

 they no longer appear together — first one and then the 

 other feeds about the door. In their domestic affairs 

 they seem to maintain the same customs as their larger 

 relatives, the male spending full half the time on the 

 nest. 



Meek and innocent as they appear, they are altogeth- 

 er too cunning for me. I have spent hours looking for 

 the nest, but they delude and elude me ; take me into 

 the most dreadful places, and leave me there — a depth 



