IQ THE ZENAIDA DOVE. 



at the spot in a state of mind which he only who compares the wretchedness 

 of guilt within him with the happiness of former innocence, can truly feel. 

 He said he never left the place without increased fears of futurity, associated 

 as he was, although I believe by force, with a band of the most desperate 

 villains that ever annoyed the navigation of the Florida coasts. So deeply 

 moved was he by the notes of any bird, and especially by those of a Dove, 

 the only soothing sounds he ever heard during his life of horrors, that 

 through these plaintive notes, and them alone, he was induced to escape 

 from his vessel, abandon his turbulent companions, and return to a family 

 deploring his absence. After paying a parting visit to those wells, and 

 listening once more to the cooings of the Zenaida Dove, he poured out his 

 soul in supplications for mercy, and once more became what one has said to 

 be "the noblest work of God," an honest man. His escape was effected 

 amidst difficulties and dangers, but no danger seemed to him to be compared 

 with the danger of one living in the violation of human and divine laws, and 

 now he lives in peace in the midst of his friends. 



The Zenaida Dove is a transient visiter of the Keys of East Florida. 

 Some of the fishermen think that it may be met with there at all seasons, 

 but my observations induce me to assert the contrary. It appears in the 

 islands near Indian Key about the 15th of April, continues to increase in 

 numbers until the month of October, and then returns to the West India 

 Islands, whence it originally came. They begin to lay their eggs about the 

 first of May. The males reach the Keys on which they breed before the 

 females, and are heard cooing as they ramble about in search of mates, more 

 than a week before the latter make their appearance. In autumn, however, 

 when they take their departure, males, females, and young set out in small 

 parties together. 



The flight of this bird resembles that of the little Ground Dove more than 

 any other. It very seldom flies higher than the tops of the mangroves, or to 

 any considerable distance at a time, after it has made choice of an island to 

 breed on. Indeed, this species may be called a Ground Dove too; for, 

 although it alights on trees with ease, and walks well on branches, it spends 

 the greater portion of its time on the ground, walking and running in search 

 of food with lightness and celerity, carrying its tail higher than even the 

 Ground Dove, and invariably roosting there. The motions of its wings, 

 although firm, produce none of the whistling sound, so distinctly heard in 

 the flight of the Carolina Dove; nor does the male sail over the female while 

 she is sitting on her eggs, as is the habit of that species. When crossing the 

 sea, or going from one Key to another, they fly near the surface of the 

 water; and, when unexpectedly startled from the ground, they remove to a 

 short distance, and alight amongst the thickest grasses or in the heart of the 



