432 BULLETIN 162, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



disappeared for the great part at the end of the first week. The feather 

 quills that followed the dowu did not burst until they were quite long as that 

 for a time the young were as grotesque as young cuckoos. 



Young birds in juvenal plumage are much like adults, but they 

 are grayer on the back and breast and generally paler; there are faint 

 traces of narrow pale edgings on the mantle; and the throat and sides 

 of the head are whiter. I have seen adults, from Arizona, under- 

 going a complete molt from August 2 to October 11, and adults, from 

 Jamaica, completing the molt of wings and tail from December 25 to 

 January 19. 



Food — Doctor Wetmore (1920) gives the following account of 

 the feeding habits of the white-winged dove: 



A purple drupe, one-fourth of an inch in diameter, borne by a spiny shrub 

 (Covdalia spathulata) was a favorite food at this season and the birds also 

 ate the fruits of the giant cactus as rapidly as they ripened. Various seeds 

 were taken also. Hai-vesting of grain began in this valley about the first of 

 June and continued until the end of the month. Fields of wheat or barley that 

 had been cut recently were attractive to the White-wings as here they found an 

 abundant source of food. The wheat grown in this region shattered (or 

 shelled out) badly during the process of cutting, binding, and shocking, so 

 that kernels of grain w r ere scattered thickly over the fields. Further, there 

 was much additional waste grain from heads matured or stalks too short to 

 be bound that fell to the ground when cut. As may be imagined the White- 

 wings sought this food supply eagerly. They were gregarious in feeding as 

 in nesting so that newcomers passing over the grain fields usually decoyed 

 to those already on the ground until many had gathered in one spot. The 

 grain stubble was cut high and afforded the feeding bands shelter, as the 

 doves were short in leg and walked about with the body beat forward. It 

 was often the case that not a bird was seen in looking across a field of wheat 

 stubble, though several hundred might be feeding there under shelter of the 

 wheat stalks and the low levees thrown up to direct the flow of the water used 

 in irrigation while the crop was being grown. White-wings were wary and 

 easily alarmed while feeding. At times I crawled up under shelter of weeds 

 to watch them at close range. If one of the feeding birds happened to ob- 

 serve some slight motion, the heads of all were up in an instant and all re- 

 mained motionless, while in a minute or so they usually flew hastily in sud- 

 den alarm. Where they were shot at they became even more wary. After 

 feeding, little groups of White-wings often flew up to rest for a time in the 

 shelter of cottonwoods or mesquites. 



Occasionally, when feeding in fields where wheat had not been shocked a 

 dove hopped up on one of the bundles of bound grain and pecked at the 

 heads of wheat, choosing, preferably, those that were short so that they were 

 firmly held by the twine. Or a flock of half a dozen dropped down on a 

 shock of wheat and fed on the cap sheaves for a few minutes. Usually, 

 however, the birds preferred to feed in the more secure cover of the stubble 

 and confine their attention to the abundant waste grain as long as this was 

 available. When wheat was not threshed within a short time after it was cut 

 the-e doves were said to cause serious damage to the grain in the shock. 

 This was particularly true in the case of isolated fields that remained after 

 the surrounding crops had been removed. For this reason the White-winged 

 Doves were in bad repute among many of the ranchers. 



