Tentative mourning dove management units for the United States are outlined on the basis of an analysis of bandings during the 1953-57 period. The three units -- Eastern, Central, and Western -- most nearly meet the criteria of an ideal management unit: a unit that produces the doves it harvests and does not produce doves that are harvested by other units. As an average for the three management units, 95 percent of a unit's hunting kill is produced inside the unit and 96 percent of a unit's harvested production is shot inside the unit or in Mexico and Central America. Hence the three units are practically independent of each other. These conclusions must be considered only tentative because they are based on insufficient band recoveries and on weighting procedures that need to be evaluated through further research.

Nicely published (apparently with subsidy) by the Wildlife Management Institute, Washington, D.C. Comprehensively deals with the most numerous, widespread, and heavily hunted of North American gamebirds. Among the topics covered in 29 contributions: classification and distributions, migration, nesting, reproductive strategy, growth and maturation, feeding habits, diseases, survey procedures, population trends, care of captive mourning doves, and hunting. The final chapter identifies research and management needs. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Nationwide dove population indexes presented in the 1966 Mourning Dove Status Report were obtained, using several important in data gathering and analysis. Data analyses suggest that 1966 dove populations have fully recovered from the 1965 decline in the Eastern and Central Management Units, and partially recovered in the Western Management Unit. Present populations approximate those of the 1956-1965, 10-year means in all units.

Mourning dove population indices, as determined from the nationwide Call-Count Survey, decreased from 1972 to 1973 by 7% in the Eastern Management Unit, by 8% in the Central Management Unit, but increased by 8% in the Western Management Unit. The 1973 indices were below the 10-year means, 1963-1972, by 9% in the Eastern Unit, 6% in the Central Unit, and 4% in the Western Unit. Regression analyses of the call-count data for 1963-73 indicate a statistically significant downward trend in dove breeding populations in all management units; mean rates of decline per year were 1% in the Eastern, 2% in the Central and 4% in the Western Unit.