INTRODUCTION 
Prior to 1960, the annual status of the mourning dove 
population was reported in the Mourning Dove Newsletter. 
The Newsletter continues 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, is published separately. 
The 1960 and 1961 Status Reports were published in the 
Special Scientific Report - Wildlife Series Nos. 49 and 
57. 
An annual survey of the breeding population of mourning 
doves by a system of calli-count routes provides an index to 
the status of the population in the United States. Through 
the cooperation of State, Bureau, and independent observers, 
ecall-count routes were widely established by 1953. ‘The 
hundreds of cooperators who participate 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, as indicated by intensive studies in eastern 
United States (Special Scientific Report - Wildlife No. 17). 
Because hunting regulations must be published 30 days prior 
to the hunting season, the Dove Regulations Committee can 
meet no later than in late June. Status statistics must 
be summarized for consideration by this Committee. The 
annual Status Report (or a preliminary version thereof ) 
serves this purpose. It also is distributed to all coop- 
erators 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 was 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 population in the United States that are largely 
independent of each other (Kiel, 1959) and the Federal framework 
of hunting regulations was established on the basis of these three 
management units in 1960. The criteria for independence are 
that a unit produces the bulk of the doves that it harvests 
and does not produce a significant number of doves that 
are harvested by other units. The Hastern, Central, and 
Western Management Units outlined in figure 1 best meet 
nies 
