FAMILY COLUMBIDAE 3 1 



white ; axillars and under surface of wing cinnamon-brown, with the 

 tips of primaries and secondaries grayish brown. 



Female, above like the male, but with the entire crown and hind- 

 neck uniform in color with the back ; greater wing coverts edged with 

 white to grayish white ; throat and center of abdomen white ; rest of 

 under surface drab to grayish drab. 



Juvenile, like female, but somewhat more ruddy, with paler tips on 

 the feathers of the breast and upper surface. 



An adult male, taken at El Llano, Panama, February 3, 1962, had 

 the iris dull orange ; edge of eyelids light yellow ; rest of bare eyelid 

 dark neutral gray ; cere, maxilla, and tip of mandible fuscous-brown ; 

 base of mandible neutral gray, with base of cutting edge of bill, on 

 both maxilla and mandible, honey yellow ; tarsus and toes dull pink ; 

 claws black. 



Measurements. — Males (10 from Panama), wing 71.2-76.0 (74.3), 

 tail 44.5-51.8 (48.1), culmen 10.0-11.2 (10.5), tarsus 14.9-16.4 (15.5) 

 mm. 



Females (4 from Panama), wing 72.1-77.0 (74.7), tail 45.2-51.5 

 (48.4), culmen 10.6-11.8 (10.9) mm. 



Resident. Locally common on the Pacific slope from western Chiri- 

 qui east to El Llano, Panama, including the eastern slope of the 

 Azuero Peninsula ; recorded inland in Chiriqui to the base of the vol- 

 cano (Frances, El Banco) ; and on the Caribbean slope in the Canal 

 Zone, at Mindi, July 11, 1915 (Hallinan, Auk, 1924, p. 310), near 

 Gatun on February 14, 1961 (specimen), and on Barro Colorado 

 Island, March 24, 1950. 



This small dove is a bird of open savannas where there is cover of 

 grass and weeds or scattered stands of low bushes. Locally it is com- 

 mon, but is far less numerous than the ruddy ground-dove. Groups 

 of 10 to 15 may congregate where the seeds that form their food are 

 attractive but it is more usual to find them in pairs or alone. As I 

 have crossed open savannas frequently I have had them flush near at 

 hand, dart swiftly away only a meter or two above the ground, and 

 after a short flight drop down again to concealment in the grass. 

 Occasionally they are observed in low bushes that grow in the open. 

 These are the ordinary views of the species as it is less confiding than 

 the larger ground-dove. However, around towns in the open country 

 it may range in the outer areas where the houses are scattered. In 

 Code Province I found them on the broad savannas in the lower valley 



