loBr (35} 
1905 
April 12 
Ball's Hill 
Carolina 
Dove 
on roof 
of shed 
* * * + # * * * * 
As I was standing motionless among the oaks on the 
hillside path east of the cabins, a Carolina Dove cooed very 
near me. Presently I saw the bird perched on the roof of th e 
horse-shed. It remained there for upwards of 20 minutes, 
preening its feathers, occasionally miking a few steps on 
the flat graveled roof, now and then cooing. It seemed as 
much at home there as a tame Pigeon. When it cooed, it 
lowered its head to below the level of its shoulders and 
puffed out its chest. It was a trim, graceful creature of 
eminently refined, qi iet bearing, indulging in no sudden or 
undignified movements or postures until it caught sight of 
me, when it began bobbing its head up and down and jerking 
its tail in the most energetic manner. Sometimes it raised 
its tail slowly very like a Hermit Thrush, sometimes it threw 
it up sharply, sometimes it depressed it like a Phoebe, once 
or twice it moved it sideways. These Doves are very numerous 
here this spring. I saw 8 together in Birch Field on the 
9th. The solemn, measured cooing is ever in my ears as I 
stroll through the pitch pines that line the edges of barren 
fields. 
