198 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM Vor,. 87 



from their wings. I heard their insistent, monotonous, cooing calls 

 constantly, and on October 25 I found a nest on the ground that 

 contained two white eggs, placed in a fairly substantial cup of fine 

 twigs and grasses. An immature male, fully grown, was taken on 

 this same day. 



At Maracay ground doves were common on November 11 in little 

 scattered groups in open pastures and fields. The following day in 

 my travel to El Sombrero many were observed along the highway, 

 and near El Sombrero from November 13 to 21 they were common. 



The specimen taken, like others from Venezuela, averages slightly 

 darker than skins from northern Colombia but seems best identified 

 as albivitta. Whether the bird of Curasao and Margarita is also to be 

 included here appears to me to be a matter for further consideration." 

 It appears to me from examination of a small series that birds from 

 these islands average paler below and browner above, so that the form 

 perpallida of Ilartert may be valid. 



COLUMBIGALLINA TALPACOTI BUFIPENNIS (Bonaparte) 



Chamaepelia rufipennis Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 40, 1855, 

 p. 22 (Cartagena, Colombia). 



Near Ocumare de la Costa on October 28 I found several of these 

 groimd doves in dense scrub in a little valley where they flew ahead 

 with a rapid flutter of wings, keeping out of sight among the leaves. 

 A Httle later I collected one that flew up from the groimd near a road 

 leading through a cacao plantation. Others were seen here on October 

 30 and 31. On November 111 recorded several in brush grown pas- 

 tures and along hedgerows near Maracay, and found them fairly 

 common on the road to El Sombrero the following day. Several were 

 noted near El Sombrero November 16, and on November 18 I collected 

 a female in juvenile dress. 



LEPTOTILA VERREAUXI VERREAUXI Bonaparte 



LeptoHla verreauxi Bonaparte, Compt. Rend. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 40, 1855, 

 p. 99 (Colombia). 



Near Ocumare de la Costa these pigeons were common in the 

 thorny scrub, where they walked on the ground or rested on low 

 perches, hidden by Ihnbs. "When flushed they rise with a flutter of 

 wings in which there is a prominent display of brown, and dart im- 

 mediately behind cover. If they alight on the ground they walk 

 quickly away, while among branches they remain concealed from 

 sight. Shootmg them here was difficult. The only one taken was 

 very fat. Below Rancho Grande, on the south slope of the Cordillera 



" See Todd, Ann. Carnegie Mus., vol. 8, 1913, p. 555. 



