DOVES 123 



and passing thus for half an hour at a time. During the day- 

 time scattered flocks could be found everywhere in the woods, 

 and large numbers of them were killed, and at night parties 

 often went to their roost and killed wagon loads of them. Since 

 that year I have not seen a pigeon.* 



Avery says of the birds : 



Once countless thousands came in winter to feed upon the 

 mast of our forests. Not one to my knowledge has been seen 

 since the winter of 1887, when Mr. Edward Pasteur, of Greens- 

 boro, shot a single specimen in the corporate limits of the town. 

 This bird was not accompanied by any other of his species-t 



In a later paper Dr. Avery states that a flock of about 200 

 pigeons werfe seen at Greensboro the first week in Novem- 

 ber, 1890.$ 



Several reports of the occurrence of the wild pigeon in 

 Alabama indicate that the birds may have persisted there 

 somewhat later than in other parts of the United States. 

 B. 0. Peterson, of Abbeville, told me in June, 1911, that he had 

 himself seen a small flock on the upper Choctawhatchee in 

 the fall of 1909. He is a hunter of wide experience and per- 

 fectly familiar with the wild pigeon. His rejwrt is confirmed 

 by a similar but entirely independent one from Walter J. 

 Hoxie, of Savannah, (Jeorgia, who states in a letter to the 

 Biological Survey (November, 1910) that pigeons were be- 

 lieved to be still found in the upper Choctawhatchee swamp. 



WHITE-WINGED DOVE: Melopelia asiatiea asiatica 



(Linnaeus) . 



State records. — The white-winged dove is of casual occur- 

 rence in Alabama, all of the records being from the extreme 

 southern part of the State. H. P. Loding, of Mobile, has 

 furnished records of 3 specimens recently taken in Baldwin 

 County. All of these birds were mounted by a taxidermist 

 of Prichard. One was taken at Daphne, about December 2, 

 1916, another at Point Clear about December 23, 1916; the 

 third also came from Baldwin County, but the date and place 

 of capture are unknown. A fourth specimen was taken in 

 Baldwin County, near Fairhope, October 28, 1920, by Alfred 



*L«8hton (Ala.) News, vol. 2, No. 10, May 15, 1891. 

 tAmer. Field. voL 84, p. 684, 1890. 

 iAmer. Field, vol. 86, p. 66, 1891. 



