158 Birds of Colorado 



metallic patch are less weU developed or even absent ; the young bird 

 is like the female, but has Ughter edges to the feathers and no collar 

 or metallic patch. 



Distribution. — The Rocky Mountain region east to the Pacific, from 

 British Columbia southwards to Guatemala ; a siunmer resident orly 

 north of Arizona and New Mexico. 



In Colorado the Band-tailed Pigeon is a not uncommon summer 

 resident of rather irregular distribution, chiefly in the mountains from 

 6,000 to 10,000 feet from Estes Park (Kellogg & Cooke), and the moun- 

 tains about Glenwood (Cooke) southward. Other recorded localities 

 are : A gulch near Geld Hill, Boulder co. (Gale), Mountains above the 

 Platte Valley (Say), Platte Caiion (Smith), South Park, breeding 

 (Carter), Wet Mountain up to 10,000 feet (Lowe), Del Norte (Henshaw), 

 Durango, breeding (Cooke). 



Habits. — This Pigeon is particularly fond of the acorns 

 of the various kinds of oaks growing in Colorado, and 

 its distribution probably largely depends on the presence 

 of these ; but it also eats berries in the summer before 

 the acorns are ripe, and possibly other seeds as well. 

 It generally goes about in smaller or larger flocks, and 

 has an Owl-like hooting note. 



Morrison is the only Colorado observer who describes 

 the breeding habits ; he found nests both on the ground 

 as well as in scrub-oak bushes ; they all contained only 

 one glossy white egg, measuring 1'63 x 1*09, The 

 nest is a slight platform of twigs on a flat tree limb, 

 while sometimes the nest of another bird is utihzed. 

 In some cases two eggs are laid. The egg is described 

 by Bendire as a pointed elliptic alovate, and averages 

 1-55 X 1*10. I have not found any nesting date for 

 Colorado, but in Arizona eggs have been met with every 

 month in the year, and several broods are probably raised. 



Genus ZENAIDURA. 



Bill shorter than the head, slender and weak ; a bare space round the 

 eye ; tail long, about equal to the wing, of fourteen very strongly 

 graduated feathers, which are tapered and somewhat obtusely pointed ; 

 tarsus not feathered, scutellate ; black spots on the scapulars. 



