14 THE AU DU BON BU Eee ey 
Status of the Mourning Dove 
Members of the Society all over Illinois are asked to pay particular 
attention this year to mourning doves, and make notes on numbers seen, 
location, and any pertinent data on nesting that they may be able to find. 
The purpose is to gather as extensive and accurate information as 
possible on mourning dove population to use when the question of putting 
the bird on the protected list in the state comes up again before the legis- 
lature. The question came up in the last session, but no action was taken. 
States all around Illinois have no open season on the mourning dove. 
Most Illinois hunting groups want the dove left on the game list. There are 
a few who believe the season should be later in the fall than at present, 
so that all young will have left the nest, and there are others who are in 
favor of a closed season for several years, but they are in the minority. 
Although the Illinois Audubon Society rallied to the support of the 
mourning dove, it had no figures to show the bird is decreasing in the state, 
if it is. Neither did any other conservation organizations or agencies, and 
a bill to protect the dove failed to pass. 
The State Natural History Survey made a start on a mourning dove 
census, but has not had the manpower to make a full study. It seems to 
be up to the bird watchers. Any persons having figures for any previous 
years might be able to make some valuable comparisons. At any rate, any 
helpful information will be welcome. The chairman of the Society’s mourn- 
ing dove committee is Paul E. Downing, 835 Waukegan rd., Highland Park, 
Ill. Keep your records all summer and until the doves have left in the fall, 
then send your summaries to Mr. Downing. 
The mourning dove is one of the farmers’ best friends, from the stand- 
point of weed seed destruction, says Dr. O. A. Stevens, agricultural ex- 
periment station botanist at Fargo, N.D. 
“One pound per month is .a fair estimate for the weed seed consump- 
tion of a single dove, according to specimens collected near Fargo,” the 
botanist reports. “Six out of 12 birds collected shortly before sundown had 
in their crops a total of 2.1 ounces of seeds, or a little more than 1/3 ounce 
per bird. Allowing only two such meals per day, the average per bird for 
30 days would be 1% pounds.” 
Yellow pigeon grass seems to be the favorite food, one bird’s crop con- 
taining 2,073 of these seeds and few of other kinds. Five birds collected 
last Sept. 11 had eaten an average of 752 seeds of yellow pigeon grass. 
Purpose of the study was to find out to what extent doves feed on the 
seed of leafy spurge. All of the birds were obtained within a few rods of a 
large field of this weed, but not a single seed was found in the crops ex- 
amined. ; 
A captive dove fed on seeds of leafy spurge and other weeds. The spurge 
seeds were eaten readily, but were completely ground up in the well-de- 
veloped gizzard of the bird. Even the small, hard, smooth seeds of pigweed 
were completely ground. Similar studies by an Iowa experiment station 
give the same sort of conclusions. Weed seeds are destroyed when eaten by 
the birds and not passed in the droppings. 
