FAMILY COLUMBIDAE 39 



can, and to 1 ,800 meters above Boquete. Isla Parida ; Isla Goberna- 

 dora ; Isla Cebaco ; islas Taboga, Taboguilla, and Urava ; Archipielago 

 de las Perlas (islas San Jose, Pedro Gonzalez, Bayoneta, Casaya, Del 

 Rey, Saboga, Contadora, Chapera, and Santelmo). 



This dove has extended its range upward in western Chiriqui as the 

 forest has been cleared. W. W. Brown, Jr., did not find it at Boquete 

 in 1901, nor was it taken earlier by Arce though now it is present there 

 in some numbers. We have 2 specimens collected by Benson at Quiel 

 above Boquete in November 1931, and Monniche, following that date, 

 secured them in that area regularly. In 1964, I recorded several and 

 collected 1 near El Real, Darien, so that it may be extending its range 

 in that area also, as it was not reported there earlier. A record of a 

 specimen in 1941 at Garachine, reported by Bond and De Schauensee 

 (Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia, Monogr. 6, 1944, p. 28), is in doubt, 

 as the label for this bird, a mummy, has the locality marked with a 

 query. It is probable that this dove will spread westward on the Carib- 

 bean slope through northern Veraguas, and eastward through the San 

 Bias as the forests are cleared. 



The white-fronted dove lives in thickets and more open forest 

 and is universally distributed about farmlands and pastures wherever 

 there is any cover. It thrives especially around fields, and in growths 

 of shrubbery and vines on steep slopes or along small streams, as it 

 is able to shift about without apparent difficulty when parts of its 

 coverts are cleared. In traversing trails through its haunts these birds 

 flush with a rattle of wings and a flash of white from the tail. Often 

 they fly only a short distance and then stop motionless on some low 

 perch, or on the ground, where a practiced eye is required to see them. 

 At sunrise they come out in the open and walk along open trails and 

 roadsides, in savanna country often a hundred meters from shelter. 

 As the steadily advancing sun brings the heat of the day they retreat 

 again to thickets and forest. Near the coast they range regularly in 

 the drier areas back of the mangrove swamps. 



The call of the male, a resonant coo-oo-ah, comes all day long, a 

 pleasant note repeated at frequent intervals. 



Nests are shallow platforms of twigs, lined with a few finer rootlets 

 and weedstems, usually concealed in vines or leaves on a horizontal 

 branch elevated a meter or two. Occasionally I have seen nests on the 

 ground. The 2 eggs in the set, white with a slight gloss, vary from 

 long elliptical to elliptical in shape. Ten eggs from Panama, 2 from 

 my personal collecting, and the rest presented by Major General 

 G. Ralph Meyer, have the following range in measurement : 26.6- 



