Alabama, ipi8. 81 



NIGHTFALL 



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THE day dies. 

 The last faint ember of the setting sun 

 Goes out, and long, dark Night comes on apace, 

 A stillness wraps the world in solemn thought, 

 No song of bird, no rustle of the breeze 

 Distui;bs the sacred silence of the hour. 

 On rapid wing, a solitary dove 

 Pursues her lonely and belated flight 

 To eastward skies o'ercast with leaden clouds, 

 So white, so sad, so lost in such a sky ! 

 Her course is straight and swift as arrow's flight — 

 And darkness swallows up the white-winged bird, 

 A star peeps out — and Night is on the world. 



— Bdward M. Carney, in Collier's Weekly. 



MOURNING DOVE 



Art thou the bird that saw the waters cease? 

 — Yes, and brought home the olive-leaf of peace; 

 Henceforth I haunt the woods of thickest green, 

 Please to be often heard, but seldom seen. 



THE mourning dove is from eleven to thirteen inches long, the 

 male being olive grayish-brown above, the crown bluish-gray 

 with a glaucous bloom, while the sides of the neck are glossed with 

 changeable metallic purple, and the under parts are vinaceous, be- 

 coming creamy buff on the lower abdomen and under tail-coverts. 

 The female is slightly smaller, generally paler, and is not purplish 

 below. The dark spot on the side of the neck distinguishes the bird 

 from all other native doves and pigeons except the white-winged 

 dove. The latter has the upper third of the wing white. Mourning 

 doves feed on small seed, grain, berries, small acorns and beechnuts ; 

 the dove eats no insects or other animal food. The nest is placed in 

 a great variety of situations, sometimes on the ground or a bare rock 

 without the presence of even a few straws, but usually it is a frail 

 platform of twigs placed on bushes. There are usually two eggs 

 laid, and sometimes two or three broods are raised in a season. 

 The dove is esteemed very highly in Alabama as a game bird. 





