184 BULLETIN 15 5, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



tame. In Sanchez during the day white-crowned pigeons passed 

 along the hills back of the village, flying between the swampy wood- 

 lands at the head of Samana Bay and the forested slopes to the 

 eastward. Occasionally single birds were seen but usually they 

 passed in flocks containing four or five to a dozen individuals. At 

 a distance they appeared black but sometimes the sun rays caught 

 the white crown cap so that it glistened like silver. The birds flew 

 with strong, vigorous flight. In the wet forests at an altitude of 

 1,500 feet their guttural cooing came from all sides, and in traversing 

 the trails birds flushed continually with loudly clapping wings. 



Struthers in an account of the birds of Mona Island lying midway 

 between the Dominican Republic and Porto Rico ei remarks " at 

 sunrise and sunset flocks numbering as high as five hundred indi- 

 viduals were seen approaching Mona from the direction of Santo 

 Domingo. Many of these birds were collected and several had the 

 seed of the royal palm in their crops. As this palm was not found 

 on Mona these birds must have migrated recently." Mona is distant 

 about 35 miles from the nearest point of the Dominican Republic. 



Cory found the white-headed pigeon in large numbers and said 

 that they nested in May. He secured specimens at Puerto Plata De- 

 cember 21 and 29, 1882, and January 3, 1883. Peters found a few at 

 San Juan and Margante March 12 and 13, 1916, and was told by 

 natives in this section that large flocks appeared in August. Dan- 

 forth found many at Seibo early in July, and flocks between Dajabon 

 and Monte Cristi in June and August, 1927. 



In Haiti Bartsch found this species in 1917 near Jeremie April 12 

 and 15, Trou des Roseaux April 14, between Port-au-Prince and St. 

 Marc April 21 and 22, and in the Cul-de-Sac region April 24. Ab- 

 bott reported them as breeding in numbers on Grande Cayemite 

 Island in January, 1918. On Gonave Island he secured males on 

 February 22 and 27, 1918, and March 5 and 9, 1920, and was told 

 that numbers came there at the proper season to breed. Near Bom- 

 bardopolis, at an altitude of 1,500 feet, they seem to have been com- 

 mon as he secured eight specimens, including both sexes, March 22, 

 23, 25 and 26, 1917. Four more males were collected on Tortue 

 Island April 6, 7 and 8, 1917. The birds breed here in numbers in 

 the mangroves, and on May 17, 1917, Abbott collected twenty sets 

 of one egg each. These are glossy white in color and elliptical in 

 form, slightly pointed at the smaller end. There is some variation 

 in shape, and considerable variation in size as the following measure- 

 ments will indicate : 32.8 by 26.2, 33.4 by 25.7, 34.6 by 26.1, 35.0 by 

 25.9, 35.1 by 27.2, 35.6 by 26.2, 36.5 by 25.5, 36.6 by 25.6, 36.7 by 25.5 

 37.0 by 26.1, 37.2 by 26.8, 37.2 by 27.0, 37.3 by 27.0, 37.4 by 26.8, 37.4 



«Auk, 1927, p. 543. 



