THE MOURNING DOVE. 429 



or upon the horizontal Umb of a tree or bush. Fence-corners, the tops of 

 stumps, brush piles, and overgrown stone heaps are favorite places, and occa- 

 sionally eggs are laid upon the ground with little pretense of a nest or none. 

 I have found several nests in low bushes entirely surrounded by water. Old 

 Robins' nests and those of the Grackle, Blue Jay, and others are also used, 

 the tenant adding a few clean straws or twigs to the structure as found. Now 

 and then, however, a pretty substantial nest is found, and one which reflects 

 credit upon the gentle builder. 



The Doves are very prolific. Eggs may be found at any time from May 

 to September inclusive. Incubation lasts two weeks, and since the young are 

 of rapid growth, three and even four broods are raised in a season. Dr. Jones, 

 writing from Circleville, says that he has seen these Doves sitting on fresh 

 eggs every month of the year except December and January. According to 

 the same author the female sometimes lays again before the young have flown, 

 in which case they must assist, perforce,' in the duties of incubation. 



The young are frail creatures in spite of the fact that they get as fat as 

 oysters before they leave the nest. They are fed by regurgitation and their 

 food is mingled with a whitish fluid from the adult stomach — "Pigeons' 

 milk." "At night," according to Langille, "the old one sits crosswise on 

 them even when they are quite large, the nest and birds together thus making 

 quite a grotesque pile." 



When frightened at the nest the female drops instantly to the ground 

 and goes off into a series of elaborate convulsions, but I have seen this trait 

 exhibited oftener in the West than hereabouts. The male also is vigilant 

 in defense, and when the young are ready to leave the nest he takes charge 

 of them, while his mate is sitting on another pair of eggs. 



In late summer and autumn the Doves gather into groups or small flocks, 

 altho they can no longer be characterized as "highly gregarious," and feed in 

 the stubble fields or feast upon the wild fruits and acorns. Either singly or 

 in companies the birds linger into late autumn and early winter, or stay out- 

 right, becoming abundant during the cold season southerly. 



There seems to be a growing tendency among sportsmen to regard the 

 Dove as a game bird. Only recently a gentleman in close touch with sport- 

 ing circles boasted that he had killed fifty in a day, not far from Columbus. 

 1 cannot but feel that this is very much to be deplored. While the bn'd is 

 unquestionably swift of wing and may be frightened until it becomes very 

 wild it does not seem, upon sober thought, that its value either as meat or 

 as a flying target begins to equal that of its tender song, and its confiding pres- 

 ence in our midst. Sportsmen in Ohio are confessedly hard put to it for 

 legitimate game, but the remedy does not lie in assaulting the next biggest 

 bird, until our bird population is reduced to the dead level of chittering Ch ck- 

 adees and gibbering Sparrows. It lies rather, if anywhere m the introduc- 

 lion and propagation of birds which have unquestionable food and game value. 



