224 Annals of the Carnegie Museum. 



is based on the average smaller size of the West Indian bird, and 

 while this difference certainly exists, it scarcely seems so great as to 

 demand formal recognition in nomenclature. I can discover no 

 constant color-differences, the width of the tail-band, to which Messrs. 

 Palmer and Riley call attention, being a variable character in birds 

 from both localities. 



" Throughout the island in the open pine woods, palmetto groves, 

 and especially in old fields grown up to weeds, the Cuban Mourning 

 Dove is an abundant bird. Several nests were found in low trees 

 five or six feet from the ground " (Bangs & Zappey). Mr. Link 

 confirms this statement, and adds that he found several nests in the 

 mangroves along the Los Indios River late in April. In the fall and 

 winter months the species is usually found in flocks, frequently in 

 company with other kinds. 



71. Columba leucocephala Linnaeus. White- crowned Pigeon. 



Columha leucocephala Poey, Mem. Hist. Nat. Cuba, 1854, 427 (Nueva Gerom., fide 

 Gundlach). — Cory, Cat. W. Indian Birds, 1892, 96 (I. of Pines, in geog. distr.). 

 — Bangs & Zappey, Am. Nat., XXXIX, 1905, 197 (La Vega). — Read, Bird-Lore, 

 XIII, 1911, 44 (McKinley).— Read, Oologist, XXVIII, 1911, 11 (I. of Pines). 

 — Read, I. of Pines News, VI, Feb. 21, 1914 (Bird I., Siguanea Bay). 



"White-crowned Pigeon" Read, Forest and Stream, LXXIII, 1909, 452 (I. of 

 Pines). — Read, Oologist, XXVI, 1909, 58, 75 (I. of Pines); XXVII, 1910, 15 

 (I. of Pines; migr.); XXVIII, 1911, 3 (McKinley), 6, 10 (Nuevas River), 7 

 (Canada Mountains, etc.), 113 (West McKinley); XXX, 1913, 123 (Pine River), 

 125, 127 (Santa Barbara; migr.), 131 (I. of Pines). 



"White-head[ed] Pigeon" Read, Oologist, XXVII, 1910, 5 (Nuevas River). 



Seven specimens: Nueva Gerona, Los Indios, and Bogarona. 



Most of the specimens secured show the same " patchy " condition 

 of the plumage, apparently the result of irregular moult, which I 

 have previously remarked in the case of Bahaman examples (Annals 

 Carnegie Museum, VII, 1911, 416). 



This is a common species everywhere, except in the Cienaga, ap- 

 pearing in flocks late in February, and remaining until the last of- 

 September. Although a few stragglers may be seen through the winter 

 months, the vast majority of the individuals withdraw at that season 

 from their usual range, and according to native report resort to the 

 " south coast," in great numbers. It is one of the most numerous 

 birds of the various mountain ridges in the interior of the island during 

 the breeding-season, which begins in May. The nest is usually 

 built in the top of a royal palm, but along the Los Indios River the 



