152 LIFE HISTORIES OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



The eggs are usually two in number, seldom but one. Incubation lasts 

 about fourteen clays, the male assisting in these duties. The eggs are pure 

 white in color, elliptical oval in shape, with now and then one which may 

 be slightly pointed, and a few that may be called oval. 



The average measurement of fifty -four specimens in the U. S. National 

 Museum collection, is 21.5 by 16.5 millimetres. The largest egg in the series 

 measures 23 by 17.5, the smallest 20 by 16 millimetres. 



The type specimen (No. 20804, PI. 2, Fig. 24), from a set of two, from the 

 Bendire collection, was taken by myself, near Tucson, Arizona, June 28, 1872. 



53. Scardafella inca (LESSON). 



INCA DOVE. 



Chamcepelia inca LESSON, Descriptive Quadrupeds, etc. , Buff on, 1850, 211. 

 Scardafella inca BONAPARTE, Conspectus Avium, n, December, 1854, 85. 



(B 452, C 375, R 4GC, C 549, U 321). 



GEOGRAPHICAL RANGE: Southern border of United States from Rio Grande Valley 

 of Texas to southern Arizona and Lower California; south to Mexico and Guatemala. 



The breeding range of the Inca Dove within our border includes the Rio 

 Grande Valley of Texas, from the vicinity of Laredo to southern Arizona, and 

 its distribution seems to be somewhat irregular. It is also an occasional visitor 

 in the interior of Texas (Austin). 



None of the ornithologiststs who have explored the Lower Rio Grande Val- 

 ley within the past few years, as well as other portions of Texas, appear to 

 have met with this species. Dr. H. B. Butcher, however, seems to have found 

 it abundant near Laredo, Texas, in 1866, and took its nest and eggs there on 

 July 1 of that year. It was placed in the forks of a small mesquite tree. 1 



In southern Arizona it has been met with by different parties. I found it 

 rather a rare resident near Tucson in 1872. 



Mr. W. E. D. Scott writes as follows: "The only points where I have seen 

 this species are Tucson and Florence, where it is, especially in the latter place, 

 of common occurrence during the warmer portion of the year. The birds arc 

 very tame, and seem to affect particularly the streets, corrals, and gardens in 

 the heart of the town." 2 



Mr. Herbert Brown informs me: "I have examined a number of the nests 

 of the Inca Dove at different times. They are as a rule much better con- 

 structed than those of the Mexican Ground Dove. The cavity is about half an 

 inch deep, and the materials used, fine dead twigs, are much more compactly 

 put together than in the nests of the latter. On September 20, 1884, I found a 

 nest of this species in an apricot tree about 10 feet from the ground. The nest 

 contained two eggs, which I did not disturb." 



Mr. Xanthus found this Dove breeding abundantly at Cape St. Lucas. One 



1 History of North American Birds, 1874, Vol. in, p. 383. "Auk, Vol. HI, 1886, p. 421. 



