376 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Jamaica (Spanishtown) ; Nicaragua (Great Corn Island) ; Honduras 

 (Iiuatan Island) ; British Honduras (Half Moon Cay, Turneff Is- 

 land, and Belize); and Oaxaca (Salina Cruz). West to Oaxaca 

 (Salina Cruz and Tehuantepec) ; Yucatan (Cozumel Island and 

 Buchotz) ; and southern Florida (probably Dry Tortugas). 



Scott (1889) records a specimen taken at Punta Rassa, Fla., August 

 16, 1886, and Cory (1891) noted them in the winter of 1891 at Caicos 

 Islands of the eastern Bahamas. 



Although given to considerable wandering, the white-crowned 

 pigeon does not appear to have a regular migration, at least in the 

 main part of its range. Audubon (1840) stated that they arrived 

 on the Florida Keys from April 20 to May 1. while Maynard (1896) 

 reported their arrival in this region about the 1st of June and their 

 departure late in October. Some appear to winter regularly in 

 southern Florida. 



Egg dates. — Bahamas : 48 records, May 21 to December 8 ; 24 

 records, June 18 to 29. 



COLUMBA SQUAMOSA Bonnaterre 



SCALED PIGEON 



HABITS 



The scaled pigeon is a West Indian species, which is included in 

 our list as an accidental straggler to Key West, Fla., and therefore 

 extralimital. John W. Atkins (1899) records the incident, as fol- 

 lows : 



On October 24, 1898, an adult female of this species was shot on the Island 

 of Key West, and brought to me in the flesh, by a young collector in my 

 employment, who found it among some Doves in the possession of a dove hunter, 

 who had shot it from a wild fig tree on the outskirts of the town. 



Dr. Thomas Barbour (1923) says of its haunts in Cuba: 



In western and central Cuba this beautiful Pigeon is by no means common 

 at the present time. It is a highland bird but not exclusively confined to 

 mountain ranges. One finds the Torcaza Morada usually perched high on the 

 dead branches of some towering tree, most often on cliffs or steepish slopes. 

 The birds seem sluggish and make short flights, booming their heavy, sonorous 

 call through the heat of the day. Attempt to approach, and the bird is off, 

 for no Pigeon is more alert. Its flesh is excellent, and the body is heavy beyond 

 other local species. In appearance in the field it is larger and darker than a 

 domestic pigeon, and it has a patch of brilliant metallic feathers on each side 

 of the neck. It is never terrestrial. Ramsdeu has given an excellent account 

 of the persecution it suffers in Oriente, where it appears at intervals in great 

 numbers. Ramsden also recalls breeding rookeries which Gundlach never 

 found. This gregarious habit is beyond a doubt confined to the wild Eastern 

 Province, where the Scaly-naped Pigeon still is more abundant than elsewhere. 

 For never elsewhere have I met with numbers which would allow of killing 



