1892. 
Mass. 
Zenai&ura macroura. 
July 
(NO. 
July 
16. Concord. -descending in a half circle but when within about Dove's 
2) four feet of the ground she alighted abruptly on the branch of nest, 
an oak where she sat looking at me quietly for a moment and 
then taking wing again, disappeared among the trees. My theorjr 
that having tried the wounded bird performance and found it 
futile or unnecessary, she has now abandoned it, gathers 
probability. 
I was mi staked in supposing the "runt" egg to be infer- 
tile for it was hatched . The young bird is at least a third 
smaller than the one which hatched first. I was also mistaken 
in regard to the color of the skin of the young. The light was 
good to-day and having my glass with me (I cannot get nearer 
than within 15 feet of the nest) I saw distinctly that 
young the skin of the entire body and head is of a dark purpl- 
ish brown. This shows conspicuously on the head which is near- 
ly or quite naked but elsewhere is partially concealed by a ra- 
ther dense coat of hair-like down of a pale straw color. The 
younger bird had the down still wet and plastered to the skin 
in places. The egg shells had been removed from the nest and 
I could not find them under it. 
21. The Carolina Dove was on her nest when I visited it at 3 P. 
M. to-day although the young are now so large (fully over half 
grown) that the parent bird had great difficulty in covering 
them and appeared to be standing rather than sitting on the 
ft 
