INTRODUCTION 
Prior to this year, the annual status of the mourning dove 
population has been reported in the Mourning Dove Newsletter. The 
Newsletter will continue as a report on activities in mourning dove 
research and management on a national scale, but the annual report 
on status of the population, used chiefly for regulatory purposes, 
will be published separately. 
A survey of the breeding population of mourning doves by a 
system of call-count routes provides an annual index to the status 
of the population in the United States. Through the cooperation of 
State, Bureau, and independent observers, call-count routes were 
widely established’ by 1953. The hundreds of cooperators who partici=- 
pate in the call-count survey have contributed the data that form the 
basis for this report. 
The call-count survey period is May 20 - June 10, a period 
during which dove calling activity is relatively stable based on in- 
tensive studies in eastern United States. Because of requirements 
concerning the publication of hunting regulations by a specified time 
prior to the hunting season, the Dove Regulations Committee meets 
late in June and population-status statistics must be summarized for 
consideration by the Committee. This status report serves that purpose. 
In addition, it is distributed to all cooperators in the call-count 
survey and is available to interested organizations and individuals. 
For several years prior to 1960, the Federal framework of 
mourning dove hunting regulations has been established on the basis 
of eastern and western groups of States. Recent analysis of banding 
data indicates that there are three units of the mourning dove popu- 
lation in the United States that are largely independent of each 
other (Kiel, 1959). The criteria for independence are that a unit 
produces the doves that it harvests and does not produce doves that 
are harvested by other units. The Eastern, Central, and Western 
Management Units outlined in figure 1 best meet these criteria for 
management units on the basis of present information. Although 
additional banding data are needed to establish firmly the manage~ 
ment-unit boundaries, the Federal framework of hunting regulations 
will be established on the basis of three management units this year. 
