THE WHITE-WINGED DOVE. 



147 



They were all placed in a little mesquite grove between a couple of volcanic 

 hills west of town." 



Nidification usually begins in the latter part of April in southern Arizona, 

 and sometimes later. The nests of the White-winged Dove, like those of most 

 of the members of this family, are as a rule rather frail structures, consisting of 

 a slight platform of small sticks and twjgs interlaced with each other, and lined 

 more or less with bits of old weeds, stems of mesquite leaves, and dry grasses. 

 Mr. G. B. Sennett found a nest of this species made of Spanish moss. No par- 

 ticular preference seems to be shown for certain trees. I have found many of 

 my nests in mesquite trees, the most abundant in that locality; others were 

 plased in walnut trees, willows, and cholla cactus, at various heights from the 

 ground, from 2 up to 30 feet. 



I found my first nest on May 15, 1872. This was placed on a live 

 mesquite stump from the top of which a number of green sprouts had grown 

 out, the nest being only 2 feet from the ground, the lowest situation in 

 which I found any. It contained two fresh eggs. A second nest, found May 

 24, was placed on a horizontal limb of a mesquite tree, 6 feet from the 

 ground. A third I found on a walnut tree close to the trunk, among some 

 young sprouts. It was fully 20 feet from the ground. An occasional nest 

 is placed in cacti, but the majority in trees. 



As stated above I found, my first nest of this species on May 15, 

 and my last, the fourteenth, on June 24. Although I searched carefully for 

 others during the next three months, when both Zenaidura macroura and 

 Columligallina passerina pallescens were still laying, I failed to find a single 

 nest of the White-winged Dove with eggs after that date. 



Dr. J. C. Merrill, U. S. Army, took eggs of this species near Fort Brown, 

 Texas, up to July 3. 



I believe but one brood is usually raised in a season. As near as I can 

 judge, incubation lasts about eighteen days. The male relieves the female 

 somewhat in these duties, but does not assist to any great extent; he, how- 

 ever, assiduously helps to care for the young. 



Their food consists of insects, small seeds, grain, if procurable, berries, 

 mesquite beans, and the fruit of the sahuara cactus, Cereus giganteus, which 

 seems to be a favorite article of food with many birds in Arizona. 



In the late summer these birds collect in small parties, and I found 

 them not at all shy. I have frequently seen as many as a dozen feeding 

 among the cavalry horses along the picket line in my camp, allowing the 

 men to walk within 10 feet of them without flying off. 



The eggs are generally two in number, seldom one. They are mostly 

 elliptical oval in shape, that is, equally rounded at each end; a few may be 

 called oval. Their color is a rich creamy tint when fresh, and readily per- 

 ceptible then, but in many specimens, especially in such as were considerably 

 advanced in incubation when taken, this delicate tint fades, in time leaving 

 the egg a dull dead white. 



