Zenaida macroura 
1892. Mass . 
Sept. I 5. Concord.- have been the first tine that they had ever used their 
wings (I have never known any young bird return to its nest 
after once fairly leaving it) and that their parents (I did not 
see either of the old birds) were not present to guide and en- 
courage them it is indeed remarkable that they should have 
launched into the air with such entire apparent confidence and 
should have flown so swiftly and so far. What I expected was 
to see them flutter clumsily for a few yards and then come to 
the ground or strike into the branches of the nearest tree. 
The sharp, decided turn around the pine was especially impress- 
ive. Their wings produced more of the whistling sound made by 
old birds; after the preliminary flapping there was only a 
fluttering like that of a young Grouse. 
The nest was very foul indeed; in fact the entire top of the 
platform was a sticky mass of excrement. 
57 
