MOUKNING DOVE 



247 



The Mourning Dove is a summer resident of central 

 and southern New England and of the Hudson Valley, 

 arriving late in March, and re- 

 maining till October. Though 

 found as far north as Concord, 

 N. H., it is generally rare north 

 of southern Connecticut, or only 

 locally common in the broader 

 river valleys. It frequents sandy 

 plains and the edges of old fields, 

 particularly in the neighborhood 

 of pine groves and of orchards, 

 in both of which it nests. In 

 late summer it feeds on the 

 stubble of grain-fields, and is 

 not infrequently to be seen from 

 the cars, as it flies off at the ap- 

 proach of the engine. Its notes, 

 heard in early spring, particularly at sunrise and sunset, 

 are like the strokes of a distant bell, low and sweet, but 

 mournful. They may be written thus : coo-ah, cod, cod, 

 cod. 



When a dove flies from the ground, it often lights in 

 some tree near by ; its long, rounded tail, marked with 

 black and deeply tipped with white, serves as an excellent 

 field-mark. At a distance the general appearance of the bird 

 is brownish, but it is readily told by its pigeon-like aspect, 

 and by its flight, which is very swift, rather low, and is 

 accompanied by a noticeable whistling sound. (See Yellow- 

 billed Cuckoo, p. 227.) 



FiQ. 72. Tail of Mourning 

 Dove 



Note. — The Wild Pigeon {Ectopistes migratorius), formerly seen in 

 innumerable multitudes, is now practically extinct in New England. 

 Any bird which answers fairly well to the description of the Pigeon, 

 unless seen in the woods of northern New England or by a very well 

 trained observer, is probably the Mourning Dove. 



