8 THE AU) DoU; BON, (3B UCL ne aie 
Any time during the day, a nesting dove while off duty may return to 
the nest and make love to its mate... Unless one of the birds is killed a pair 
will probably remain mated throughout a nesting period. No one has dis- 
covered whether they will go through life together. 
During the nesting period destructive agencies get to work. Two-thirds 
of those ruined are lost while they contain eggs. Some nests are ruined by 
high winds, while others are destroyed or abandoned because of blue jays 
and flying squirrels. Jays are known to adjust their diet quickly to the 
eggs and to five-day-old nestlings. Flying squirrels, nocturnal prowlers, 
will demolish nests, eat the eggs, and kill the nestlings of all ages. Ants, 
certain hawks, shrikes, crows, rats, snakes, owls and squirrels are predators 
to be feared. 
If hunting is made legal during September and the first half of October, 
it may cause indirectly much loss of the eggs and nestlings. Examination 
of doves shot by hunters showed more than one-third of the killed adults 
had left behind nestlings to die, and many others were no doubt shot during 
the incubation period. If either of the attending adults is killed it is not 
likely for a nest to succeed. 
Piggott, Arkansas. 
ft fi fT 
Swans at Kellogg Sanctuary 
IN THE November 11, 19438, issue of the Battle Creek, Michigan, Enquirer 
and News appeared a report of a migrating flock of whistling swans that 
had visited the nearby W. K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary a short time before. 
It is interesting to know that, while the Chicago area sees very few, if any, 
in any season, thousands congregate on Green Bay, in Wisconsin, and 
hundreds may be so comparatively near us in Michigan. Some other species 
that are also more or less regular visitants there were included in their 
story. 
“The big white geese you may have seen flying the last few days are 
not geese at all but whistling swans in migration from the Arctic circle 
and the Hudson Bay region to their winter haven in the dunes and sand 
bars of the Virginia and Carolina coast, according to Dr. Miles D. Pirnie, 
director of the W. K. Kellogg Bird Sanctuary at Wintergreen Lake. 
“The swans arrived at Gull Lake Wednesday in flocks of hundreds, 
according to Dr. Pirnie, who says that right now is the peak of migration 
for these birds. As early as Tuesday afternoon a few were spotted and 
before daybreak Wednesday residents of the Gull Lake countryside were 
wakened by the distinctive whistle of the swans, which is described as 
between a coo, a bark and a honk. Five hundred swans spent Wednesday 
night on Gull Lake and left early Thursday morning in a southeasterly 
direction. Many interested persons were on hand to see the birds make 
their takeoff. With a possible stopover on Lake St. Clair or Lake Erie, 
the swans were headed for the Virginia and Carolina shores. 
“Whistling swans do not come to Gull Lake every year, says Dr. Pirnie, 
although there were a few last year. Sometimes their course veers east- 
