ORDEE COLUMlJiTj! PIGEONS, &c. 



Family COLUMBID^ : Pigeons. 



COLUMBA FASCIATA, Say. 

 Band-tailed Pigeon. 



Columba fasciata, Say, Long's Exp. ii, 18-23, 10.— Bp., Am. Orn. i, 1825, 77, pi. — , f. 3 ; Syn. 



18-28, 119; List, 1838, 41.— WaCxL., S. Av. 18-27.— Nutt., Man. i, 183-2, 624.— AuD., 



Oiii. Biog. iv, 1838, 479, pi. 367 ; Syn. 1839, 191 ; B. Am. iv, 1842, 312, pi. 279.— 



WooDii., Sitgr. Kcp. 1853, 92.— Newb., P. R. K Rep. vi, 1857, 92.— Bd., B. N. A. 



1858, 597.— SCL., P. Z. S. 1858, 359 (Cordova) ; 1858, 304 (Oaxaca) ; 18.59, 369 



(Xalapa).— Sai.v., Ibis, 1860, 276 (Guatemala).- Cooi-. & Suck., N. H. Wash. 



Ter. 1860, 217.— Coues, Pr. Phila. Acad. 1866, 93 (Arizona).— Sumich., Mem. 



Bost. Soc. i, 1869, 562 (Vera Cruz).— Coop., B. Cal. i, 1870, 506.— Coop., Am. 



Nat. iii, 1869, 80 (Montana Territory).— Gray, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 235, No. 



9269.— Coues, Key, 1872, 225.— Schl., M. P.-B. 1873, 67.— B. B. & R., N. A. 



B. iii, 1874, 358, 360, pi. 57, f. 2. 

 Tamccnas fasciata, Reich., Syst. Av. pi. 223, f. 1255; pi. 255, figs. 2865, 2866. 

 Cldorocnas fasciata, Bp., Cousp. ii, 1854, 51. 

 Columba »tOH*7i.s, ViG., Beechey's Voy. 1839, 26, pi. 10. 

 Ckloranas moiiiUn, Reich., Syst. Av. pi. 227, f. 2481. 



Hab. — Rocky Mountains to the Pacific, United States, and southward to South; 

 America. 



No specimens of this bird were ever taken by the Expeditions, and 

 it has not yet, to my knowledge, been actually found in the Missouri- 

 water-shed. It has occurred, however, to Dr. Cooper, near the Cojur 

 d'Aleiie Mission, in Montana, and, as a bird of the Rocky Mountains, 

 may not improperly be brought into the present connection. There i& 

 no reasonable doubt of its occasional presence about the Missouri head- 

 waters. 



It is common in many parts of the West. I was, however, disap- 

 pointed in not meeting it more than once or twice in Arizona, where I 

 had anticipated its plentiful occurrence, at least during the migrations. 

 Its movements appear to be somewhat irregular; while it is abundant 

 in some regions, it is absent from others apparently equally favorable. 

 This may depend upon the i)recarious su[)ply of certain favorite kinds 

 of food, and thus correspond somewhat to the more conspicuous case of 

 the Passenger Pigeon, whose notorious wanderings are mainly i)r(>n)pted 

 by the same circumstances. It appears to breed indilierently in various 

 parts of its range, even so far south as Santa Cruz. The accounts of its 

 nesting that were for some years relied upon, are not entirely correct. 

 jMr. Towns(!nd's notice, which Audubon printed, is to the effect that tbe 

 bird lays on the ground without any nest whatever, the eggs being " of 

 a yellowish-white color, inclining to bluish-white, with minute spots at 

 the great eud. Whereas, as in other Pigeons, the eggs are i)ure white, 

 smooth and glistening, nearly elliptical in shape, measuring 1.50 inches 

 long by l.LM) broad." According to other authority, the bird builds a 

 simple nest of twigs in a forked branch, or on a horizontal bougli. But 

 situation of a nest is among the very variable elcnu-nts of the ornitho- 

 logical problem, since it depends upon many fortuitous circum.stances. 

 As is well known, the Common Dove [Zcnmlura carol incnsix) nestles 

 with equal readiness on the ground or in bushes. In colder countries,. 

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