WILD PIGEONS AND DOVES 



By R. W. Shufeldt, M. D., C. M. Z. S., F. A. O. U., etc. 



(PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR) 



AKEN in their entirety 

 that is, as a list of species 

 and subspecies we have 

 some seventeen different 

 kinds of wild pigeons and 

 doves in this country, and 

 each and all are contained in 

 one group designated as the 

 family Columbidae. This 

 number represents but a small part of the total list of 

 pigeons and doves found wild in various quarters of 

 the world, as several hundred different kinds have been 

 described by ornithologists, and new species or sub- 

 species are being discovered every year. 



Here in this country, our typical Wild Pigeons are 



BAx\D-TAILED PIGEON {Columba f. faciata). 



Fig. I. This bird ranges through western North America, 

 southward to Nicaragua, and east to western Texas. It is the 

 form that has been so frequently mistaken for our extinct 

 Passenger Pigeon (Fig. 4). 



contained in the genus Columba, and, aside from the 

 Band-tailed Pigeon, all have their habitats in southern 

 latitudes. From time to time, the Band-tailed Pigeon, 

 which is a large and handsome form, is mistaken for 

 the now extinct Passenger Pigeon by inexperienced ob- 

 servers. It ranges from southwestern British Columbia 

 ^s far south as Central America, being quite abundant 



in some parts of its range over western North America. 

 The species has been known since 1823, specimens of it 

 having been collected in Colorado by the expedition 

 under Long. It is a big, stout species, and gets its 

 name Band-tailed from the black band that crosses the 

 tail feathers, which latter is square and not long and 

 pointed as it was in the Wild Pigeon and in our ex- 

 isting Mourning Dove. The plumage is beautifully 

 irridescent or bronzy in several places, particularly on 

 the sides of the neck, llien, too, as a white demi-coUar 

 is found on the nape of the neck, the bird is known to 

 many as the White-collared Pigeon. (Fig. i.) 



Sometimes this Band-tailed Pigeon occurs in enor- 

 mous flocks, especially in western oak forests where 

 acorns are abundant, upon which this species princi- 

 pally feeds. 



As in the case of other wild pigeons, this form builds 

 a frail, shiftless nest, which may be placed upon the 

 ground in rarer instances, though more frequently in 

 bushes or trees. It is said to lay but one egg when 

 nesting within our southern boundaries, though most 

 wild pigeons and doves commonly lay two white, 

 shiny eggs, of an ellipsoidal form, as is the case with 

 the eggs of all our wild pigeons. 



The late Dr. Elliott Coues states in his description of 

 this species that it lays "almost every month of the 



THE RED-BILLED PIGEON (C. flavirostris\. 



Fig. 2 This is another form which has occasionally been mis- 

 taken for the Passenger Pigeon. It occurs in the Lower Rio 

 Grande Valley, and ranges as far south as Costa Rica. 



