The Western White-winged Dove 



non-killing. It is for the farmer to decide whether the "sport" of killing 

 doves is worth more to him than his crops, whether the meat secured is 

 worth, say, a dollar an ounce. Hunters urge, fairly enough, that the 

 bird is abundant; that it is possessed of considerable recuperative power, 

 i. e., is prolific enough to stand up under gun-fire; that it easily develops 

 caution and the attitude of fear; that its rapidity of flight constitutes 

 it an ideal target; that its flesh is sapid; and that its body yields a sensible 

 return of food value. We shall ignore, too, the fact that these birds 

 nest regularly throughout the State in July, also to a considerable extent 

 in August, and not infrequently in September; so that the offspring of 

 slaughtered parents must be left to perish. The business of sport cannot 

 wait forever upon maternity. 



But the real question is, how can you endure to quench that voice, — 

 that haunting, wistful, friendly voice? How could you wish to rebuke 

 that erstwhile lover, the model of his race? How can you offend such con- 

 fidence? or how abide the accusative eyes so wont to be tender? Or how 

 shall gentleness — for the Mourning Dove is the most perfect exemplar of 

 that sovereign grace — how shall gentleness "survive on earth at all, if we 

 meet it so with shot and shell? Is it a pleasure to be shunned by gentle 

 creatures? to move always along a path of terror? to feel the woodland 

 grow silent before us? to live, in short, in an empty world? 



No. 227 



Western White-winged Dove 



A. 0. U. No. 319. Melopelia asiatica mearnsi Ridgway. 



Synonyms. — Singing Dove. Paloma cantador. 



Description. — Adult male: General color scheme somewhat as in preceding 

 species; upperparts chiefly olive-brown (Saccardo's umber), changing to bluish gray 

 on rump, top of head and neck washed with light vinaceous purple; wing with a broad 

 white band from bend to tips of outer secondaries, the transitional area (between 

 white and olive-brown) bluish gray; extreme edge of wing and quills blackish, the 

 outer primaries very narrowly bordered and the outer secondaries more broadly tipped 

 with white; a heavy dab of black below and behind ear, sometimes iridescent and 

 flanked by feathers on sides of neck which exhibit first bright purplish red and then 

 greenish iridescence; breast much like back, shading to whitish of chin and upper 

 throat; remaining underparts, including lining of wings and axillars, bluish gray (light 

 Payne's gray), paling on middle of belly and crissum; tail rounded from above, blue- 

 gray basally, white terminally, separated by black band; the central covering pair 

 of feathers like back, but faintly echoing general scheme by darker and lighter. Bill 

 black. Adult female: Similar to male, but duller; iridescence on side of neck reduced. 



H65 



