428 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



MELOPELIA ASIATICA MEARNSI Ridgway 



WESTERN WHITE-WINGED DOVE 



HABITS 



The name mearnsi was applied to the white-winged dove of the 

 Southwestern United States and Mexico by Robert Ridgway (1915), 

 who described it as " similar to M. a. asiatica but averaging de- 

 cidedly larger, and coloration paler and grayer, the foreneck and 

 chest light drab to hair brown instead of fawn color, the back, etc., 

 hair brown to deep drab." 



In the regions where I have met with the white-winged dove, I 

 found it to be one of the commonest and decidedly the noisiest of 

 birds. Its monotonous cooing and hooting notes were heard almost 

 constantly in the chaparral and forests, especially early in the 

 morning and toward night. 



We found it very abundant in certain parts of southern Arizona. 

 We camped for several days on the edge of the mesquite forest, on 

 the Santa Cruz River, south of Tucson, where we were lulled to 

 sleep at night, or awakened in the morning, with the monotonous 

 notes of the white-winged doves ringing in our ears. They were most 

 noisy at morning and evening, but could be heard at all hours of 

 the day and sometimes during the night. These doves were also 

 common in nearly all the canyons, and a few were found in the more 

 fertile valleys of the San Pedro River. 



Harry S. Swarth (1920) says: 



Throughout the valleys of southern Arizona the white-winged dove, or 

 Sonora pigeon as it is generally known, is an abundant summer visitor. 

 Mosquite-grown bottom lands form the favorite breeding resort, and it is 

 there or in cultivated fields that the white-wings are to be found in numbers. 

 Anywhere on the desert, however, one is apt to see them, passing overhead, 

 feeding, or resting on the giant cactus or in the shade of the thicker bushes. 

 They also invade the towns to some extent, and may frequently be observed 

 in garden shrubbery or perched on fences or electric wires. 



Spring. — Although Major Bendire (1892) found it partially resi- 

 dent throughout the year in the vicinity of Tucson, Ariz., and ob- 

 served it during every month of winter, they were not so abundant 

 then as in summer, many having migrated. Mr. Swarth (1920) 

 says: "The birds, as a rule, arrive in southern Arizona about the 

 third week of April. Gilman gives the date of arrival at Sacaton 

 as April 20, while I found a bird sitting on eggs near Tucson as 

 early as April 13." 



M. French Gilman (1911) writes: 



Their coming is coincident with the ripening of the berries of the wild jujube, 

 Zizyphus hicioides, upon which they feed greedily as long as the fruit lasts, 

 consuming both ripe and green. They come in such great numbers that the 



