454 BULLETIN 16 2, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



chance to escape undetected, the parent would quietly slip from the nest to the 

 ground, run a few steps and noiselessly flutter to a protecting branch without 

 the hunter being aware of its presence. 



The nests were built away from the ground, the distance varying from a foot 

 to five feet. The bird usually selected the head of an old rotted stump or the 

 fork of a low outhanging branch, or possibly the horizontal surface of an old 

 gnarled liana that ran close to the ground. The nest itself was a concave plat- 

 form of twigs lined with leaves on which rested the two dark, cream-colored 

 eggs. The nest in the accompanying illustration was lined in the same way, 

 but some of the leaves were green and freshly picked so that the whole struc- 

 ture had an effect of not existing at all in the green mass of foliage that grew 

 around it. The habit of mingling green leaves with brown was doubly significant 

 from the fact that other nests found on stumps and lianas, where there was no 

 surrounding green, were lined only with dead brown leaves which made them 

 just as hard to see in their individual locality. The coloring of the eggs was no 

 aid, for they nearly matched the leaves on which they lay. 



P. H. Gosse (1847) found two nests in Jamaica, of which he writes: 



One day in June I went down with a young friend into a wooded valley at 

 Content to look at a partridge nest. As we crept cautiously toward the 

 spot, the male bird flew from it. I was surprised at its rudeness; it was 

 nothing but a half dozen decayed leaves laid on one another, and on two or 

 three dry twigs, but from the sitting of the birds it had acquired a slight 

 hollowness, about as much as a skimmer. It was placed on the top (slightly 

 sunk among the leaves) of a small bush not more than 3 feet high, whose 

 glossy foliage and small white blossoms reminded me of a myrtle. There 

 were two young recently hatched, callow and peculiarly helpless, their eyes 

 closed, their bills large and misshapen ; they bore little resemblance to birds. 

 On another occasion I saw a male shot while sitting; the nest was then 

 placed on a slender bush, about 5 feet from the ground. There were but two 

 eggs, of a very pale buff color; sometimes, however, they are considerably 

 darker. 



A set of two eggs in my collection was taken by A. H. Verrill on 

 Dominica, May 2, 1906 ; the eggs were laid on leaves on the ground. 



Eggs. — Two eggs form the usual set. They are oval, smooth with 

 very slight gloss, and vary in color from pale " cream-buff " to 

 " salmon-buff," which fade only slightly. The measurements of 25 

 eggs average 28.5 by 21.4 millimeters; the eggs showing the four 

 extremes measure 32.6 by 22.2, 30.2 by 23.4, and 24 by 19.5 millimeters. 



Plumages. — I have never seen a nestling of this quail dove. A 

 small but fully feathered young bird, in juvenal plumage in July, 

 has the crown, back, scapulars, and wing coverts " brownish olive," 

 with a greenish luster; the wing coverts and scapulars are tipped 

 with " tawny," most broadly on the median and greater coverts, 

 which are also edged with it; the remiges are edged with "rufous- 

 cinnamon," and the rectrices and upper tail coverts are tipped with 

 it ; the breast is " hair brown," with " tawny " tips, the belly buffy 

 white and the chin whitish with buffy tips. 



