VENEZUELAN ORNITHOLOGY — FRIEDMANN AND SMITH 493 



July 6: Pair seen together at nest site. Several twigs placed in position. 



July 7: One sits on nest and slowly revolves, forming nest shape, while other 

 brings in twigs in spurts, at times as fast as one every 20 seconds, laying them 

 beside the dove in the nest, which accepts each one in its turn, placing it in posi- 

 tion. Pair made no noise except a wing whistle (controlable?). 



July 8: Bird on nest all day — must have laid first egg either late yesterday or 

 early this morning. 



July 9, 7 a. m.: One egg in nest. 



July 10, 4 p. m.: Two eggs in nest. 



The young were brooded until quite well feathered and large enough to fill the 

 nest to such an extent as to make further brooding physically impossible. During 

 this period the female (?) did not leave the nest to search for food, the male (?) 

 bringing food for the young. On one occasion the female (?) begged food from 

 him and then later fed the young by regurgitation. 



In addition to a soft coooo rising very slightly at the end, this dove 

 also utters a low oooo-ah-oooo, reminiscent of the mourning dove 

 (Zenaidura macroura), but very low in pitch, as well as in volume, 

 scarcely audible at 50 feet. 



Scardafella squammata ridgwayi Richmond 



Scardafella ridgwayi Richmond, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 18, 1896, p. 660 

 (Margarita Island, Venezuela). 



Two additional crumbs of information: copulation is preceded by 

 the briefest of preliminaries, a split-second billing before the male 

 mounts; also, at least on one occasion both parents roosted with the 

 young for two nights after they had left the nest. 



Columbigallina passerina albivitta (Bonaparte) 



Chlamaepelia] albivitta Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 40, No. 

 1, 1855, p. 21 (Cartagena, Colombia). 



Since our previous report, this dove has also been observed nesting 

 on the ground, the nests being very meager affairs when compared to 

 the bulky nests built in bushes. This form had a wing-twitching 

 "display" identical to that described under Columbigallina talpacoti 

 rufipennis, except that, in this case, the display is accompanied by a 

 low, froglike aaack note, barely audible at 20 feet. 



Columbigallina talpacoti rufipennis (Bonaparte) 



Chamaepelia rufipennis Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 40, No. 1, 

 January 1855, p. 22 (environs of Cartagena, Colombia). 



In our 1950 publication, this form was reported as rare around 

 Cantaura. It has since become common in the nearby well-watered 

 oil company camps at Anaco. Within these camps, it has become 

 commoner than the C. passerina albivitta as a breeding bird. On 

 September 24, 1952, three occupied nests were found in a triangular 

 area not more than 50 feet apart ; there was an occupied nest of Scarda- 



