Bird Biographies :: THE MOURNING DOVE Pigeon Family ColumbidAE

THE MOURNING DOVE Pigeon Family ColumbidAE

Length: Nearly 12 inches; tail 5½ inches.
General Appearance: A large, plump, grayish-brown bird, with a small head, a black mark below the ear, and a long pointed tail, in contrast to the round, fan-shaped tail of tame pigeons.
Male: Upper parts a soft grayish-brown, except the head, which is bluish-gray on the crown, with a pinkish-buff forehead, and the wings, which have long, gray primaries. Sides of neck beautifully iridescent, with a small black spot below the ear, an identification-mark; black spots on the lower part of breast and wings; breast with a pinkish tinge, and underneath the tail pale yellow; tail long and sharply pointed when the bird is at rest. In flight, it resembles the jay’s in shape; the middle feathers are brown, like the back; outer feathers largely white; others brown, tipped with white and banded with black; feet and legs red.
Female: Duller than male, with less iridescence on neck.
Note: A soft, monotonous coo-oo-a-coo-o-o, uttered mournfully and with great tenderness. The sound is pleasing to some people, but unendurable to others.
Habitat: Open woodlands, or fields bordered with trees.
Range: North America. Breeds chiefly from southern Canada throughout the United States and Mexico; winters from southern Oregon, Colorado, the Ohio Valley, and North Carolina to Panama; casual in winter in the Middle States.

Mourning doves, whose “billing and cooing” have become proverbial, are as devoted pairs of lovers as may be found in the bird-world. The ardent male appears to seek the society of none except his loving mate. She seems perfectly satisfied with his attentions and evidently gives him her whole heart.

Madame Dove is a very inefficient housekeeper. Her nest, built of rough sticks, and notoriously ill-constructed—is a sort of platform on which two white eggs are laid. It is a wonder that they remain in safety long enough to be hatched, for the nests are often not more than ten feet from the ground. Were not her twin-babies as phlegmatic as their parents, they might roll out of bed and come to an untimely end.

It is fortunate that the easy-going mother does not need to prepare the bountiful repasts her family demand. She and her husband select a home-site near fields where weeds abound and where grain is raised. The family gorge themselves upon seeds until they almost burst. Mr. Charles Nash says that “these birds are often so full of seeds that, if a bird is shot, the crop bursts open when it strikes the ground.”[83]

They are of enormous economic value. Their food is almost entirely vegetable, and consists largely of the seeds of weeds that a farmer must pay to have destroyed or work hard to eradicate. Doves frequent fields of wheat, corn, buckwheat, rye, oats, and barley, but the grain they destroy is only a third of their food, and consists largely of waste kernels, according to the reports of the Department of Agriculture.[84] They like many varieties of infinitesimal seeds that are eschewed by other birds; as many as 9200 seeds have been found in the stomach of one dove.

These birds have an unerring instinct for fresh water. With a peculiar, whistling sound, they fly at nightfall to a spring or pool for a cool drink before retiring. Hunters are said to have watched them and thus found springs for their needs.[85]

Doves eat quantities of gravel to aid in the digestion of their epicurean feasts. They are fond of dust-baths. They also indulge in queer, senseless-looking acrobatic performances, which appear like attempts at gymnastics.

Clyx.com