Color Key to North American Birds Part 35

=319. White-winged Dove= (_Melopelia leucoptera_). L. 12.

Wing-coverts, externally, widely margined with white; large black ear marks. _Ads._ All but central pair of tail-feathers bluish slate with a black band and whitish tip. _Notes._ A loud, crowing _cookeree-cookeree-coo-ree-coo_, _crow-co-er-coo_, _crow-co-er-coo_.

Range.--Southern border of United States from Texas to Arizona south to Lower California and Central America, Cuba and Jamaica, casual at Key West, Florida.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 320.]

=320. Ground Dove; Mourning Dove= (_Columbigallina pa.s.serina terrestris_). L. 6.7. Smallest of our Doves. _Ad._ [Male]. Forehead and underparts deep vinaceous pink; hindhead and nape ashy blue margined with dusky; base of bill _coral_, tip black. _Ad._ [Female].

Forehead and breast brownish gray; breast feathers with dusky centers and margins. _Notes._ A soft, crooning _coo_.

Range.--Atlantic and Gulf States north to northern North Carolina, west to eastern Texas; more common near coast.

=320a. Mexican Ground Dove= (_C. p. pallescens_). Similar to No. 320, but forehead and underparts much paler; back grayer.

Range.--Texas to southern California and south to Central America.

=320b. Bermuda Ground Dove= (_C. p. bermudiana_). Similar to 320a, but smaller and paler; bill wholly black. (Bangs and Bradlee.)

Range.--Bermuda.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 321.]

=321. Inca Dove= (_Scardafella inca_). L. 8. _Ads._ Tail long, outer feathers tipped with white; plumage above and below margined with dusky, giving a scaled appearance.

Range.--Southern Texas (San Antonio), southern Mexico and southern Arizona south to Lower California and Central America.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 322.]

=322. Key West Quail-Dove= (_Geotrygon chrysia_). L. 12. _Ads._ A white line below eye; belly white; back rich rusty with beautiful, metallic, purplish, _green_ and _blue_ reflections; tail rusty with no white.

Range.--Cuba, Hayti, Bahamas and, rarely, Florida Keys.

=322.1. Ruddy Quail-Dove= (_Geotrygon montana_). L. 11. _Ad._ [Male].

No white line below eye; breast dull pinkish; belly deep buff; back rich rusty with purplish reflections, tail rusty without white. _Ad._ [Female]. Above olive-brown with greenish reflections; below rusty buff.

Range.--Mexico south to Brazil; West Indies; casual at Key West Florida.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 323.]

=323. Blue-headed Quail Dove= (_Starn?nas cyanocephala_). L. 12.

_Ads._ Crown and sides of throat dull blue; middle of upper breast black with white bars and pinkish tips; belly rusty brown, lower back as in No. 316. _Notes._ A hollow sounding _hu-up_, the first syllable long, the second short. (Gundlach.)

Range.--Cuba, and rarely Florida Keys.

Order XII. VULTURES, HAWKS, AND OWLS.

RAPTORES.

Family 1. AMERICAN VULTURES. Cathartidae. 3 species.

Family 2. FALCONS, HAWKS, EAGLES, etc. Falconidae. 33 species, 13 subspecies.

Family 3. BARN OWLS. Strigidae. 1 species.

Family 4. HORNED OWLS. Bubonidae. 19 species, 20 subspecies.

In the Raptores we have a group of birds of great value to man but whose services for the most part, are so little appreciated that, far from protecting these birds, we have actually persecuted them.

The Vultures, it is true, are given credit for their good work as scavengers and they are protected both by law and by public sentiment.

Every one knows that a living Vulture is infinitely more useful than a dead one. As a result throughout countries inhabited by these birds they are usually both abundant and tame, entering the cities to feed in the streets with an a.s.surance born of years of immunity from harm.

But how differently their kin of the family Falconidae act in their relations to man! 'Wild as a Hawk' has become an adage. These birds are universally condemned. To kill one is a commendable act. Every ones hand is raised against them. In some localities a price has actually been set upon their heads.

A fondness for chickens, it is alleged, is the chief crime of Hawks, and in popular parlance all Hawks are 'Chicken Hawks' and as such are to be killed on sight.

Naturalists have long been aware that only one of our common Hawks habitually preys upon poultry while most of our species, by feeding largely on meadow mice, are actually beneficial. It was not, however, until this matter received the attention of the Biological Survey of the United States Department of Agriculture, that the economic status of Hawks, as well as of Owls, was placed on a sound scientific basis.

In Dr. A. K. Fisher's report on the food of Hawks and Owls, issued by the Biologic Survey in 1893, the results of the examination of the contents of several thousands stomachs of these birds is tabulated. It is stated, for example, that only three out of two hundred and twenty stomachs of the so-called 'Chicken' or Red-shouldered Hawk contained the remains of poultry, while mice were found in no less than one hundred and two, and insects in ninety-two.

That the Sparrow Hawk is also wrongly named is clear from a study of its food, only fifty-four out of three hundred and twenty stomachs examined containing remains of birds, while insects were found in two hundred and fifteen.

As a matter of fact, among our commoner Hawks, the Cooper and Sharp-s.h.i.+nned are the only ones feeding largely on birds and poultry, and if the farmer will take the pains to ascertain what kind of Hawk it is that pays unwelcome visits to his barn-yard, he will be spared the injustice of condemning all Hawks for the sins of one or two.

Feeding after sunset, when the small mammals are most active, Owls are even more beneficial than Hawks. The Great Horned Owl, it is true, has an undue fondness for poultry, but the bird is generally so rare near thickly populated regions that on the whole it does comparatively little harm.

Fortunately, it is those Owls which are most common in settled regions which are of most value to man. Thus, our little Screech Owl feeds chiefly on mice and insects. Only one of the two hundred and fifty-five stomachs examined by Dr. Fisher contained the remains of poultry while mice were found in ninety-one and insects in one hundred. Of the Short-eared or Marsh Owl, seventy-seven out of one hundred and one stomachs contained mice remains, and the same injurious little rodents were found in eighty-four out of one hundred and seven stomachs of the Long-eared Owl.

The bones and hair of the small mammals eaten by Owls are rolled into oblong pellets in the stomach and are ejected at the mouth. These pellets may often be found in large numbers beneath the roosts in which Owls pa.s.s the day. In 200 such castings of the Barn Owl Dr.

Fisher found the remains of 454 small mammals of which no less than 225 were meadow mice.

Hawks build large-bulky nests of sticks placing them usually well up in large trees, and lay, as a rule, four eggs which are generally whitish, blotched with brown. The Marsh Hawk is an exception. Its nest built largely of gra.s.ses, is placed on the ground in marshes and the eggs, often numbering six and rarely eight, are bluish white unmarked.

The Owls nest in holes in trees or banks, or, in some instances, an old Hawk or Crow nest may be occupied. The eggs usually number three to five and are always pure white.

Vultures and Osprey

[Ill.u.s.tration: 324.]

=324. California Vulture= (_Gymnogyps california.n.u.s_). L. 44-55; Ex. 8 1-2 to nearly 11 feet. (Ridgw.) _Ads._ Head and neck orange, blue, and red, unfeathered; feathers around neck and on underparts narrow and stiffened; greater wing-coverts tipped with white; _under wing-coverts white_.

Range.--"Coast ranges of southern California from Monterey Bay, south to Lower California and east to Arizona" (Bailey). Recorded from Burrard Inlet, British Columbia (Fannin).