BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
113 
a Wild Pigeon — called the flyer — with its eyes sewed shut, which they 
threAV out, and another which they made hover by means of a string 
from the bough-house. In this way large quantities of pigeons were 
decoyed, and as they were about to alight the net was sprung over 
them. Pigeon catching was quite a business with some. The flyer and 
stool pigeons were kept during the year in cages so as to have a stool 
pigeon to commence with in the spring. No pigeons have been here for 
the last fifteen years.” The nest, generally placed in a tree, sometimes 
in bushes, is a flat and frail platform of sticks, so carelessly iDlaced that 
the eggs, one or two in number, can be seen from below. The eggs 
measure about one and one-half inches long and a little over one inch 
broad. 
Genus ZENAIDURA Bonaparte. 
Zenaidura macroura ( Linn. ) . 
Mourning Dove ; Turtle Duve. 
Description (Plate 71). 
Tail of fourteen feathers ; length about 13 inches ; extent about 18 ; bill slender and 
mostly black ; feet purplish -red ; eyes brown ; upper parts olive-brown and bluish- 
gray ; lower parts faint purplish or brownish-red, becoming much lighter behind ; 
neck glossed with metallic purple and gold. Female and young somewhat similar 
but duller. 
Habitat. — North America, from southern Maine, southern Canada and Oregon 
south to Panama and the West Indies. 
The only species with which the Mourning Dove, so called from its 
note, can possibly be confounded is the Wild Pigeon, from which it can 
readily be distinguished if the following facts are remembered : The 
dove measures about thirteen inches in length and eighteen inches in 
alar extent ; the pigeon about seventeen by twenty-five inches. So, flrst 
we find a marked difference in size. Secondly, the dove has fourteen 
tail feathers ; the pigeon has but tioelve ; again, the eyes of the dove are 
brown, while those of the pigeon are red. This bird is found in several 
of the southern counties of Pennsylvania during all seasons of the year, 
and at times other than when breeding is gregarious. During the sum- 
mer time it is found generally throughout the state. In March, the 
flocks which have been observed during the winter about the fields and 
orchards, separate and begin their love-making. The nest, a carelessly 
constructed affair, is made up entirely of small sticks, and is generally 
found placed on a large limb of a tree in an apple orchard. On the 
barren ridge, in eastern Pennsylvania, I have on several occasions found 
these birds nesting in pine trees ; the eggs are two in number, white 
and unspotted. Sometimes these birds will occupy nests which have 
been deserted by other species. I once, some few years ago, found a 
8 Birds. 
