NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 155 



313. Columba flavirostris WAGL. [457-] 



Red-billed Pigeon. 



Hab. Southern border of the United States from the Rio Grande Valley, Arizona, Mexico and Lower 

 California south to Costa Rica. 



This large and handsome Pigeon is common in the valley of the 

 Rio Grande and southward. In some localities on the Rio Grande in 

 Texas it is abundant during the summer months. Dr. Merrill found 

 it not uncommon about Fort Brown, but more plentiful higher up the 

 river. It loves the deep, dense woods, where it can dwell in quiet and 

 retirement. The nests are frail platforms of twigs and grasses, such 

 as are usually built by other pigeons, placed in trees and bushes. 



Mr. George B. Sennett describes a nest which he found April 9th, 

 near Hidalgo, on the Rio Grande. It was placed in a thicket, about 

 eight feet from the ground, made of twigs, was frail and saucer-shaped 

 and contained a single young, nearly fledged. He states that this bird 

 lays several times in a season. Nests were found containing eggs and 

 young in all stages of development, but in no case did a nest contain 

 more than one egg or young. Mr. Sennett gives the average size, 

 taken from a large series, as 1.55x1.10, the length varying from 1.60 to 

 1.45, and the breadth from 1.18 to 1.03*. The eggs are pearly white. 



314 Columba leucocephala LINN. [458.] 



White-crowned Pigeon. 



Hab. Greater Antilles, Bahamas and Florida Keys. 



The White-crowned Pigeon occurs in summer on the Florida 

 Keys, and it breeds abundantly on some of the smaller islands ; it is 

 an abundant resident species in the Bahamas and West Indies. This 

 Pigeon, according to Audubon, arrives on the southern Florida Keys 

 about April 2Oth, or not until May first. The birds were shy and wary 

 on account of the war waged against them, their flesh being esteemed 

 for its fine flavor. Their shyness only partially abated during the 

 breeding season and they would silently slide from their nest when sit- 

 ting, and retreat to the dark shades of the mangroves. The nest is 

 built in low trees and bushes, composed of twigs carefully arranged, 

 with little or no lining of grasses. It is, on the whole, a bulky structure 

 for a pigeon. These birds often breed in numbers, nesting in trees, 

 some at high elevations, others in low mangrove bushes and the nests 

 resemble that of the Passenger Pigeon, but are said to be more com- 

 pact and better lined. The eggs are two in number, oval in form, 

 and opaque-white with a very smooth surface; the average size is 

 1.41 x 1.02. 



* Further notes on the Ornithology of the Rio Grande of Texas. 



