Mourning refers to this bird's call — a cooing series of notes. They are casual in nesting, building a frail home of a few sticks whenever the parental instinct urges, during every month in the year except December and January. In their wanderings they are casual, being found over the entire United States but are most numerous where food is plentiful. They gather casually in small flocks or are found in pairs and in some parts of the country wing their whistling flight every evening in little groups to a favored roosting spot. We met numbers darting across Roanoke Sound from the mainland, headed for Roanoke Island at sunset.

Casual Dove would be a more appropriate name!