8 
The Mourning Dove 
Name and 
Habits 
This really charming bird is one of the earliest to arrive in the North- 
ern States in spring, and before the leaves are fairly out the plaintive 
call of the male, which seems so mournful to some ears, is heard floating 
over the woods. The name Carolina Dove, found in old books, refers to 
the fact that the first specimens described came from that part of the 
country. It is sometimes called Turtle Dove, although 
not very closely allied to the true European Turtle 
Dove, and may well be known simply as the Dove, 
now that the Wild Pigeon has become extinct. 
The nest of the Dove is usually placed on a horizontal limb of some 
small or medium-sized tree. Occasionally, one may come across it in the 
crotch where two large limbs meet. Now and then it is situated on an 
old rail-fence or a stump. In the deserts of Arizona the writer has 
found the nests on the bare ground, sheltered only by the uncertain foliage 
of a little greasewood-bush. The eggs are usually two in number, pure 
white, and elliptical in form. When the parent is disturbed while in 
attendance on the eggs or young, it will usually drop to the ground and 
flutter away as if injured, the evident intention of the bird being to dis- 
tract the attention of the intruder from the nest. It is commonly asserted 
that the pairs of this Dove remain mated as long as they live, but positive" 
evidence of this is lacking. 
The Mourning Dove has sometimes been confused with the Wild, or 
Passenger Pigeon, especially since the search for possible relics of that 
lost species has excited so much interest. It is about four inches less 
in length and seven inches less in spread of wings than was the Wild 
Pigeon, and has not the blue tint about the head, nor the reddish under- 
surface of that bird. It never gathers in great flocks 
Distinctions for nesting-purposes, the small winter flocks breaking 
up in spring into solitary pairs. On the Pacific coast 
the Band-tailed Pigeon might be mistaken on first acquaintance for this 
species, but that bird is larger than the Dove, and has a square-ended 
tail crossed by a dusky band, and a noticeable white bar on the nape. 
Its cry, too, is more like the hooting of an owl than the cooing of doves. 
Classification and Distribution 
The Mourning Dove belongs to the Order Columba and the Family Columbidce 
— Pigeons. Its scientific name is Zenaidura macroura carolinensis. This bird 
breeds in all the southern Canadian provinces and thence southward throughout the 
United States and Mexico. In winter it occurs from Oregon, Ohio and North 
Carolina southward to Panama. 
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