WHITE-CROWNED PIGEON 373 



Hopping Dick, Woodpecker, and the Guinea-fowl feed also upon it. In April, 

 Sam tells me he has seen as many as thirty, almost covering a tree, feeding on 

 berries which he believes were those of the bully-tree. Late in the year they 

 resort to the saline morasses, to feed on the seeds of the black-mangrove, which 

 I have repeatedly found in the craw ; I have even seen one descend to the ground 

 beneath a mangrove, doubtless in search of the fallen seeds. In general, how- 

 ever, the Bald-pate is an arboreal pigeon, his visits to the earth being very rare. 

 He often feeds at a distance from home ; so that it is a common thing to observe, 

 just before nightfall, straggling parties of two or three, or individuals, rushing 

 along with arrowy swiftness in a straight line to some distant wood. 



Doctor Wetmore (1916), on Porto Rico, found that " five stomachs 

 examined contained vegetable matter only, composed of drupes and 

 fruits of fair size. The icaco and berries of various palms (palmo 

 real and lluma) are favorites with these birds, while a tree known as 

 palo bianco {Din/ petes sp.) is said to furnish them food in season. 

 No cultivated crop is injured, the bird depending wholly upon wild 

 fruits for its sustenance." Mr. March, as quoted by Baird, Brewer, 

 and Ridgway (1905), states that "they commit serious depredations 

 on the Guinea-corn fields, not only by the quantity they devour, but 

 by breaking down the brittle corn-stalks with the weight of their 

 bodies." 



Behavior. — Maynard (1896) writes: 



The White-headed Pigeons are thoroughly at home among the thick branches 

 of the trees and shrubbery of the Bahamas, moving about among them as easily 

 as do the smaller-perching birds, and they make very little noise. When sur- 

 prised by an intruder they will remain perfectly quiet until approached within 

 a few yards, when they will spring rapidly into air, rise to the tips of the wood- 

 land, and dart off with an exceedingly rapid flight; in fact, few, if any birds, 

 can fly any more quickly than do these Pigeons. I have shot several in air, as 

 they rose from the bushes and darted away, but I never attempted to shoot one 

 as it passed me at full speed at right angles. When dashing along at this head- 

 long speed they will suddenly alight upon a branch or on the ground, without 

 the beating or fluttering of the wings, which usually attends a similar abrupt 

 stoppage in most birds of a similar size and which is so noticeable in our 

 domestic pigeon. 



Dr. Thomas Barbour (1923) says: 



The White-crowned Pigeon is of irregular appearance in any given locality, 

 its presence depending on the abundance of the fruits upon which it feeds. 

 It is essentially a coastal form, and one which is always gregarious. It roosts 

 in great hordes, usually on some mangrove islet, and bands sally forth each 

 morn to feed, returning from their distant foragings at dusk. Then they 

 rush and swirl into the greater resorts, or palomares, in incredible hosts. 

 Famous roosts are Moraine Cay north of Grand Bahama, where I have shot, 

 and Green Cay, south of New Providence. Gundlach speaks of their seldom 

 being seen in Cuba except when nesting, which they do at various seasons 

 of the year. This intermittent appearance is noticed everywhere. They are 

 iii the Florida Keys in summer only, but not every summer in equal numbers ; 

 in certain of the Bahamas they abound at one season, elsewhere at others. 



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