PIGEONS AND DOVES: WHITE-WINGED DOVE 
303 
see thousands of these birds sitting quietly among the trees, resting in 
the shade after taking food and water” (MS). Those that live on the 
mesa or in the mountains where there is no water come to the valley 
to drink and feed. Twilight shows these returning flocks “cutting 
the high air at full speed, in a straight line for the mesa and mountains 
again” (MS). If followed to their roosting grounds on the mountains 
they may be found in the trees or bushes, and on the mesa they may be 
scared out of inesquites or from the ground under creosote and acacia 
bushes. In winter, Mr. Leopold says, they are nearly always found in 
loose flocks in wild sunflower patches. 
Opportunities to study their interesting life histories are plenty, 
and should not be neglected as they give a clue to the lives of species 
less easy to observe. A study made by Mr. Craig on the expression 
of emotion in doves, calls attention to their movements and calls, 
as those given in alarm, in charging, when on the perch, and at the 
nest (1911, pp. 398-407). 
Gentle and harmless, the lovely “Turtle Dove,” as it is commonly 
called, is not only a bird of far flights but in its general distribution 
over the warm low country a bird of the every day life of the people, 
now whistling by from the sunflower patch to its nest in the orchard, 
now fluttering down into the solitary wayside camp to see what may be 
offered. Supplying a musical accompaniment to peaceful home life, 
whether of hackall, bungalow, or camp, in this way the voice of the 
softly cooing Dove bears a choice part in the beautiful sunny days of 
New Mexico. 
Additional Literature.—Beam, M. H., Bird-Lore, XXVII, 158-161, 1025.— 
Gilman, French, Condor, XIII, 51, 52, 1911.— Grinnell, Bryant, and Storer, 
Game Birds of California, 588-603, 1918.— Leopold, Aldo, Condor, XXIII, 19-21, 
1921.— Lincoln, F. C., Auk, XXXIX, 322-334, 1922 (bird banding).— Miller, 
O. T., A Bird-Lover in the West, 194-204, 1894.— Nice, M. M., Auk, XXXIX, 457- 
474, 1922; XL, 37-58, 1923 (nesting).— Pearson, T. G., Educational Leaflet 2, 
Nat. Assoc. Audubon Soc.— Snyder, L. L., Auk, XL, 240-244, 1923 (nesting).— 
Talbot, L. R., Auk, XXXIX, 334-350, 1922 (bird banding). 
WESTERN WHITE-WINGED DOVE: Melopelia asiatica meSmsi Ridgway 
Plate 31 
Description.— Length: 11-12.2 inches, wing 6.3-6.S, tail 4.8-5.2. Tail rounded. 
Adult male: Top of head and neck brownish with warm “bloom,” sides of head with 
dark ear spot above golden-green iridescent patch; rest of upperparts mainly brown- 
ish'except for bluish ash of lower back and rump, subterminal black band and white 
end of tail, large white wing patch and blackish quills; underparts fawn, fading to 
whitish; iris orange to red, bare orbital space blue, bill black, legs and feet lake red. 
Adult female; Similar, but usually slightly duller. Young: With white wing bar, 
but little or no purplish or iridescence or dark ear spot; feathers of upperparts with 
pale margins, and chest with pale shaft streaks. 
