FAMILY COLUMBIDAE 7 



were familiar with these birds, which they called "baldpate pigeons," 

 but, in common with other residents of the area, were interested in 

 the fact that, though they saw these pigeons regularly, they had never 

 found a nest. The species, one of wide distribution through the West 

 Indies, moves across broad stretches of open sea outside the breeding 

 season, so it is possible that it comes to the coast of Bocas del Toro 

 only as a wanderer. 



The first specimen taken by Benson was an immature female, fully 

 grown, with gray crown, but with fully developed wings in which the 

 primaries are somewhat worn, marked "Almirante, Sapodilly Cay" 

 (Zapatilla Cays), September 11, 1927. A second taken by Benson 

 from Cocoplum, November 2, 1927, is younger, with remnants of the 



Figure 1. — White-crowned pigeon, paloma cabeciblanca, Columba kucocephala. 



first plumage and brownish gray crown. The wings also are fully 

 grown and strong. Both may have come from a nesting ground else- 

 where. The male that T collected at Banana River had the gonads much 

 reduced. 



In flight, or at a distance, these birds appear black, with an occa- 

 sional flash of white from the crown. 



In the West Indies their frail nests of twigs are placed in bushes 

 and trees, and in some localities in mangroves. The glossy white eggs 

 number 1 or 2 to a set. Size is variable, the average of a series being 

 36.8 X 27.0 mm., with variation in form from elliptical to long elliptical. 



COLUMBA CAYENNENSIS PALLIDICRISSA Chubb: Pale-vented 

 Pigeon; Torcaza Comun 



Columba pallidicrissa Chubb, Ibis, ser. 9, vol. 4, January 1910, p. 60. (Costa Rica.) 

 A medium-sized pigeon with reddish brown chest; grayish white 

 on rest of under surface. 



