450 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



region " of the Colorado River delta, in February and March, 1905, 

 and there is a specimen in the British Museum taken at La Paz. 



Egg dates. — Arizona: 37 records, February 28 to October 21; 19 

 records, April 15 to May 25. Mexico : 42 records, March 11 to October 

 14; 21 records, March 23 to April 21. Texas: 12 records, April 10 

 to August 10 ; 6 records. April 19 to May 28. 



OREOPELEIA CHRYSIA (Bonaparte) 



KEY WEST QUAIL-DOVE 



HABITS 



Audubon (1840) gives a graphic account of his discovery of the 

 beautiful Key West quail-dove in the dense, tangled, thorny thickets 

 of Key West. He named it the Key West pigeon, but used the 

 specific name montana, which is now applied to the ruddy quail-dove. 

 It was originally discovered in Jamaica and now is rarely seen on 

 Key West, as one taken there in 1889 by J. W. Atkins was the only 

 one found by that keen observer in three years of careful field work. 

 It was probably only a straggler, or a rare summer visitor, on Key 

 West, retiring to Cuba in winter. Dr. Thomas Barbour (1923) 

 says of its haunts in Cuba : 



The Torito is found in dry upland woods as well as in the low country, and 

 I have flushed a good many in the low but thick forest of the limestone hills, 

 or sierras, of Pinar del Rio. I also shot one once on the Sierra de Casas of the 

 Isle of Pines, in low, scrubby second-growth {manigua) , hardly to be called a 

 forest. In the cayos within the Zapata Swamp it was far less common than 

 the ruddy quail dove ; nevertheless we often shot a few for food as well as 

 to skin. 



Nowhere abundant, indeed a rather rare bird throughout its considerable 

 range, the Key West quail dove is one of the species which sooner or later 

 will completely disappear. 



Nesting. — Audubon (1840) says: 



The nest of the Key West pigeon is formed of light dry twigs, and much 

 resembles in shape that of the Carolina dove. Sometimes you find it situated 

 on the ground, when less preparation is used. Some nests are placed on the 

 large branches of trees quite low, while others are fixed on slender twigs. 



There is a set of two fresh eggs in Col. John E. Thayer's collec- 

 tion, taken by A. H. Verrill on Inagua Island, Bahamas, April 21, 

 1905 ; the nest was on the ground, composed of loose leaves. I have 

 a similar set, taken by Mr. Verrill, at this locality on the previous 

 day; the nest was on the ground, made of leaves and trash. Major 

 Bendire (1892) gives Gundlach's description of the nest, as follows: 



The nest, consisting of a slight platform of sticks, is usually placed on the 

 top crown of certain parasitic creepers, found in the more open but shady 

 primitive forests. The eggs are two in number, of a pale ochre yellow color, 



