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From accounts and observations the morning doves had eaten the soy bean cotyledons just as they had appeared at the surface.  At this time these seed leaves are somewhat swollen and vary in color from pale green to leaf green.  As these seed leaves contain nourishment for the growth of the plant until its root system is developed, their removal causes the death or stunting of the plant.  In some cases it was found that the cotyledons had caught in the hard ground and had been pulled off as the stalk grew and extended so that it was necessary to dig around the base of the plant to determine whether or not the cotyledons had been eaten or had simply been left in the soil.  Allowance was made for this in the estimate of damage mad above.

The mourning dove was the only species implicated in damage to soy beans as the ground dove (Chaemepelia p. terrestris) does not occur here.  Similar damage might be expected of the ground dove where it is found as legumes were eaten by the form native to Porto Rico.  In seventy-two stomachs of this bird examined, a vetch was found 19 times and a wild bean (Phaseolus lathyroides) twice. [[superscript]] 1 [[/superscript]]
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[[superscript]] 1 [[/superscript]] A. Wetmore, Birds of Porto Rico, 1916, p. 51.
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Rabbits cause some damage to soy beans by eating the first leaves that appeared above the cotyledons.  On farms near that of Mr. Hunter it was stated that this mourning doves damaged corn, peanuts, and melons.