148 



THE OSl'KEY. 



It was Mr. Drigg's habit to feed a flock of these 

 birds daily, and they always appeared in time 

 for the expected feast. 



36. Mourning Dove. {Zenaidura macroura). 

 Very abundant in Hocks about burnt places 



on the prairies. 



37. Ground Dove. (Columbigallina pur- 

 purea). 



Not often seen; usually about the houses, and 

 sometimes seen perched on the gables. One 

 was seen on a lumber pile in a street in Kissim- 

 mee. They were pairing at the end of our stay, 

 and I found a set of two fresh eggs on March 15. 

 This was on the ground at the base of a tuft of 

 grass and a huckleberry stem. There was no 

 attempt at concealment. The nest is a very 

 simple affair; a few coarse twigs and grass 

 steins placed on the lowest side to even the 

 ground, then the nest proper, a small quantity 

 of dead grass stems laid in every direction and 

 though doubled and bent to keep within a diame- 

 ter of four inches, they only form a platform 

 slightly hollowed. 



Mr. Chapman has called this bird C. passerine! 

 terrestris (Bull. Am. Mus. N. It., 1892, p. 293), 

 but I believe Mr. Maynard's older name is tena- 

 ble for the following reasons. 1. Mr. Maynard's 

 discussion as to the basis of Columba passcrina 

 of Linnaeus is immaterial in considering the 

 value of his name, for it is a fact, that many 

 names are accepted even when every allegation 

 i if the author is erroneous, the fastening- of the 

 name being determined by the belief that no 

 other form could have been intended for the 

 name. 2. Mr. Maynard's well-known experi- 

 ence with the birds of Florida precludes us from 

 accepting for the name anything- else but the 

 "larger continental Dove", "the common ground 

 Dove" so well-known to him. 'In the event' 

 etc., has no adverse bearing on the tenability of 

 C. purpurea, for such a questionable wording 

 has rarely been considered a bar to the accept- 

 ance of a name when the form could be identi- 

 fied. 3. Mr. Maynard may at any time produce 

 the type of his C. purpurea. 



As Mr. Maynard's paper is not readily ac- 

 cessible to many, I quote the part relating to 

 the Doves. 



"BAHAMA GROUND DOVE 



"Chamaepelia Bahamensis. — Similar to the 

 common ground Dove, but with a bill constantly 

 wholly black, and much smaller and paler; occurs 

 through the Bahamas. It is only after consid- 

 erable hesitation that I name these species even 

 provisionally. It is possible that Linnaeus' 

 Columba passerina was based on specimens of 

 this species, and not on birds of the continent 

 of North America. 



"In event of this proving the case I propose 

 the name of Chamaepelia purpurea for the larger 

 continental Dove". C. J. Maynard in The 

 American Exchange and Mart, Jan. IS, Feb. 5, 

 1887, 69. 



As a matter of fact Columba passerina was 

 based on Sloan (Jamaica) and Catesby (South 

 Carolina). But these two birds are different, 

 and also the Bahaman, and general usage had 

 given the name to the Florida bird merely 



because authors have had occasion to mention 

 that bird more frequently and knew it best. 

 Maynard was the first to give a name to the 

 second and third of these three birds, but he 

 was not able to fix the Columba passerina of 

 Linnaeus according to modern nomenclatural 

 usage. In effect his action left this name for 

 the 'residue' which is the Jamaican bird, a treat- 

 ment followed by Chapman and Scott. The 

 value of the 'not' in Mr. Maynard's discussion, 

 as an offset to his choice of the wrong- habitat 

 for C. passerina has been overlooked by Mr. 

 Chapman. 



The following may be interesting- in this con- 

 nection. The Bahaman bird is small, very pale 

 and has a dark bill. The Florida bird is iarger 

 and the base of the bill is red. The Jamaica 

 bird has the base of the bill orange in most ex- 

 amples. Now Sloan fig-ureshis bird with a dark 

 bill, but mentions the yellow, while Catesby 

 figures his with a yellow base. The red of the 

 base of the bill in the living Florida bird 

 changes to a dirty yellow in the dried skin, so 

 that it seems sure that Catesby drew his picture 

 from a dry skin while Sloan or his artist evi- 

 dently used memory or an immature bird for the 

 purpose. The Cuban bird is different from 

 either and will be described in another connec- 

 tion. 



38. Turkey Vulture. (Catliar/es aura). 



Common and very tame. 



3' i. Black Vulture. [Catharista atrata). 



Commoner than the above species, and always 

 seen in companies of three or more. They 

 seaixh the burnt areas for dead animals. 



40. Fork-tailed Kite. (Elanoides forfica- 

 tus). 



Occasionally seen; always flying: on two oc- 

 casions single birds, usually five to eight. One 

 shot at Lake Arbuckle on March 10. measured 

 22.63 x 49 inches in extent. The longest tail 

 feather on the right side is half an inch shorter 

 than the corresponding feather. The irides of 

 this bird were very dark brown, at the distance 

 of only a few feet they appeared black. 



41. Marsh Hawk. [Circus hudsonius). 

 Several seen, almost every day "working" the 



swamps and prairies; but one adult male seen. 



42. Sharp-shinned Hawk. (Accipitervelox). 

 One seen. 



43. Red-tailed Hawk. {Buteo borealis). 

 Three seen, always about pines. 



44. Florida Red-shouldered Hawk. [Buteo 

 lineatus alleni). 



Fairly numerous and noisy. An immature 

 female collected March 15, in a gum and cab- 

 bage palmetto hammock where it had a nest. 

 It contained one egg almost ready to lay. The 

 stomach of this bird contained the remains of a 

 cotton rat, a few feathers, parts of a crawfish 

 and remains of the hard parts of beetles. 



45. Broad-winged Hawk. {Buteo p/a/yp- 

 terus). 



Saw one. 



46. Bald Eagle. (Haliaee/us leueoeephalus). 

 Seen at intervals. The soaring and sailing 



habits of this bird are seen to far better advan- 

 tage on these prairies than I have ever seen 

 elsewhere. The apparent ease with which it 

 gradually circles upwards until it appears as a 



