424 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



rufous "; the breast is " wood brown." with " pinkish buff " edgings, 

 shading off to grayish or buffy white on the belly. 



Material in collections is too scanty to illustrate subsequent molts 

 and plumages. A young bird, taken July 2, is fully grown and has 

 nearly completed the body molt into a plumage that is practically 

 adult, but the flight feathers and wing coverts are still juvenal. 

 Apparently both young and old birds have one complete molt during 

 a prolonged period in summer and fall. 



Food. — Little seems to be known about the food of these doves, 

 which probably consists mainly of seeds, fruits, and berries. Austin 

 P. Smith (1910) says: " They feed almost entirely on small herb and 

 grass seed, rarely partaking of the mesquite or ebony bean." 



Behavior. — Smith (1910) says: 



This dove approaches the true pigeons in hulk, but is more eminently ter- 

 restrain than any of the several pigeons I am acquainted with. The White- 

 fronted Dove is a slow-moving bird on the ground and quite unsuspicious ; aud 

 as it generally prefers to feed under growth of some sort, proves an easy target 

 for the pot-hunter. 



Lawrence (1874) quotes from Colonel Grayson's notes as follows: 



This ' " ground dove," as its name indicates, is usually met with upon the 

 ground in search of its food, or sometimes resting upon low branches, or old 

 logs, and always in the thickest woods, out of which they are seldom seen. It 

 walks and runs with great facility upon the ground, whilst its flight is always 

 low amidst the bushes or underbrush as if to conceal itself, and not long 

 continued, usually alighting upon the ground beneath a massive canopy o/ 

 underbrush, where it continues to walk or run to elude pursuit, or search for 

 its food. When suddenly started from its retreat, the wings whir, accompanied 

 by a whistling sound, very similar to that of the wood-cock. Its habits are 

 solitary, never congregating into flocks, and only during the breeding season do 

 we ever find a pair together. 



Sennett (1879) considered it less of a ground dove, for he writes: 



During both seasons that I passed on the Rio Grande, I saw this bird upon 

 the ground but once, and it was then feeding upon some corn that was scattered 

 in the roadway, and. so far from its remaining near or on the ground, its habit 

 is to frequent the high branches of tall trees: indeed, on this account almost 

 every specimen shot was more or less injured in falling, a number being too 

 much so to save. 



Voice. — The notes of the white-fronted dove are characteristic; I 

 recorded them in my notes as deep-toned. Sennett (1878) says: 



Its note is somewhat prolonged, ends with a falling inflection, and is exceed- 

 ingly low in pitch. Most of my birds were obtained by following the sound of 

 their notes until within range; all were seen sitting quietly in secluded places; 

 all are males, and injured considerably by falling from great heights. 



Winter. — From November to February this dove is apparently 

 absent from the northern portion of its range. 



