374 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



The fact is, the individual bands are capable of long flights, and move far 

 and wide as food supplies dictate. Great numbers are slaughtered by hunters, 

 who build an ambush near roost or rookery and kill the returning birds as 

 they fly in just before dark. Unfortunately, this leaves many young birds 

 to starve. 



Voice. — In addition to the notes mentioned under courtship, I 

 might quote what Maynard (1896) says: 



The notes of this Pigeon are very loud and characteristic, sounding some- 

 thing like wof, wof, wo, co-woo. The first three notes are repeated several 

 times, then the co-tooo is long drawn out; all being In as low a key as the 

 hoot of an owl. The entire cry is cleverly imitated by the Creoles when they 

 wish to decoy the bird within gun shot, but there is a certain tremulousness 

 in the real notes which cannot be imitated by the human voice. 



Again Gosse (1847) gives a still different wording of it as " sary- 

 coat-blue, uttered with much energy, the second syllable short and 

 suddenly elevated, the last a little protracted and descending." 



Game. — Nearly everyone who has written about the birds of the 

 Bahamas or the West Indies has referred to the w T hite-crowned 

 pigeon as one of the finest game birds on these islands. Its game 

 qualities are excellent, as it is rather wild and a very swift flier; 

 and its flesh is delicious on the table. It was formerly much more 

 abundant than it is now, for it has been shot in enormous numbers 

 while flying to or from its breeding, feeding, or roosting grounds. 

 As the pigeons were shot most easily on or about their breeding 

 grounds, many young were left to starve in the nests and many older 

 squabs were taken for food or to be raised in captivity. With such 

 wholesale slaughter the species is rapidly disappearing and is badly 

 in need of protection. Maynard (1896) relates the following tale: 



About the first week in July, previous to 1SS4, sportsmen from Nassau had 

 been in the habit of visiting Green Key and shooting the breeding Pigeons as 

 they flew from their nests to cross to Andros Island, some fifteen miles distant, 

 where they are said to go daily for food and water. Many of the nests of the 

 previous season which I had examined on Green Key contained broken eggs 

 that contained the remains of half-formed young, and in some of the nests 

 were the skeletons of newly hatched young ; the parents of both eggs and young 

 had doubtlessly been killed as they left the nests. This sight was a most 

 piteous appeal to humanity. I was informed by one of my boatmen, who had 

 accompanied hunting parties to the key, that so great was the slaughter of 

 Pigeons that many more were killed than were needed, and that he had fre- 

 quently seen hundreds of birds buried in the sand of the beach near where 

 they were shot. Upon my return to Nassau I promptly stated the facts as I 

 had observed them to the Governor, Sir Henry A. Blake, and, as I have else- 

 where stated in this work, through his ready and sympathetic cooperation a 

 law was enacted protecting these Pigeons during the breeding season. 



Winter. — The wanderings of the white-crowned pigeons have been 

 referred to in the foregoing quotation from Doctor Barbour. These 

 are all winter, or between breeding seasons, wanderings. The birds 



