The Western Mourning Dove 



remove. Here it immediately resumed its cooing, and here it was 

 joined presently by two strangers, young perhaps, welling up from some 

 unnoticed depth of the fir thicket. It was all so mysterious, so stealthy — 

 and so efficient! 



On a later occasion I surprised this same bird posted, sentinel 

 fashion, in a pine tree. Upon discovery he flew with exaggerated effort, 

 striking his wings together noisily over his back, and uttered a harsh 

 guttural raaack raack, several times repeated, — and intended, no doubt, 

 as a reproof to prowling bird-men. Careful searching of five tall fir trees, 

 limb by limb, disclosed only a last year's (or last spring's) nest, twelve 

 feet up and fifteen feet out upon a horizontal fir limb. 



Other observers, of course, have been more lucky, and from their 

 reports we know pretty well that Band-tailed Pigeons nest almost any- 

 where in Transition zones in the southern or coastal ranges, and also, 

 possibly in the Sierra Nevada. There are distinct evidences of a coloniz- 

 ing tendency, but nests are never found in close proximity, not nearer, 

 say, than once in three or four acres. On the other hand, nests are some- 

 times miles removed from their fellows. The season is very irregular: 

 March 6, 1877 (Stephens), and Aug. 11,-1913 (Wright), are extreme 

 California dates; and it is probable that the birds nest only once each 

 season. Only one egg is deposited — (there is one instance reported, by 

 Clarence S. Sharp, 1 of two) ; and so far as known there are no authentic 

 instances in California of the bird's nesting upon the ground, as it un- 

 doubtedly does upon occasion in the northern states. Incubation lasts, 

 according to Major Bendire, from fifteen to eighteen days; and the care 

 of the young must occupy a full month more. The Band-tailed Pigeon is, 

 therefore, the least prolific of all recognized "game" birds; and if it is to be 

 preserved at all, it must be taxed with extreme moderation. 



No. 226 



Western Mourning Dove 



A. O. U. No. 316a. Zenaidura macroura marginella (Woodhouse). 



Synonyms. — Wild Dove. Turtle Dove. Carolina Dove. 



Description. — Adult male: General color of upperparts olive-brown (Sac- 

 cardo's umber); margins of wing, broadly exposed portions of quills (the primaries 

 changing to fuscous distally), hind-crown, the cervix (lightly or not at all), bluish 

 gray (light to clear Payne's gray); the lower scapulars and tertials broadly but spar- 

 ingly black-spotted; tail finely graduated, the central feathers like back, the succes- 



1 "The Band-tailed Pigeon in San Diego County," Condor, Vol. V., 1903, p. 16. 



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