The Western White-winged Dove 
non-killing. It is for the farmer to decide whether the “sport” of killing 
doves is worth more to him than his crops, whether the meat secured is 
worth, say, a dollar an ounce. Hunters urge, fairly enough, that the 
bird is abundant; that it is possessed of considerable recuperative power, 
i. e., is prolific enough to stand up under gun-fire; that it easily develops 
caution and the attitude of fear; that its rapidity of flight constitutes 
it an ideal target; that its flesh is sapid; and that its body yields a sensible 
return of food value. We shall ignore, too, the fact that these birds 
nest regularly throughout the State in July, also to a considerable extent 
in August, and not infrequently in September; so that the offspring of 
slaughtered parents must be left to perish. The business of sport cannot 
wait forever upon maternity. 
But the real question is, how can you endure to quench that voice,— 
that haunting, wistful, friendly voice? How could you wish to rebuke 
that erstwhile lover, the model of his race? How can you offend such con¬ 
fidence? or how abide the accusative eyes so wont to be tender? Or how 
shall gentleness—for the Adourning Dove is the most perfect exemplar of 
that sovereign grace—how shall gentleness survive on earth at all, if we 
meet it so with shot and shell? Is it a pleasure to be shunned by gentle 
creatures? to move always along a path of terror? to feel the woodland 
grow silent before us? to live, in short, in an empty world? 
No. 227 
Western White-winged Dove 
A. O. U. No. 319. Melopelia asiatica mearnsi Ridgway. 
Synonyms. — Singing Dove. Paloma cantador. 
Description. —Adult male: General color scheme somewhat as in preceding 
species; upperparts chiefly olive-brown (Saccardo’s umber), changing to bluish gray 
on rump, top of head and neck washed with light vinaceous purple; wing with a broad 
white band from bend to tips of outer secondaries, the transitional area (between 
white and olive-brown) bluish gray; extreme edge of wing and quills blackish, the 
outer primaries very narrowly bordered and the outer secondaries more broadly tipped 
with white; a heavy dab of black below and behind ear, sometimes iridescent and 
flanked by feathers on sides of neck which exhibit first bright purplish red and then 
greenish iridescence; breast much like back, shading to whitish of chin and upper 
throat; remaining underparts, including lining of wings and axillars, bluish gray (light 
Payne’s gray), paling on middle of belly and crissum; tail rounded from above, blue- 
gray basally, white terminally, separated by black band; the central covering pair 
of feathers like back, but faintly echoing general scheme by darker and lighter. Bill 
black. Adult female: Similar to male, but duller; iridescence on side of neck reduced. 
U65 
