WILD PIGEONS AND DOVES 



621 



edition of our 

 Mourning Dove, 

 occurs in the 

 southern regions 

 of our great south- 

 west, in some 

 parts of which 

 territory it is a 

 not uncommon 

 species. 



Our elegant 

 Blue-headed Quail 

 Dove is found only 

 on the Florida 

 Keys, where it is a 

 rare species ; the 

 top of its head is 

 of a brilliant blue, 

 bounded by a black 

 stripe running 

 through either eye 

 and bounded be- 

 low the eye by a 

 stripe of glistening 

 white. Its general 

 plumage is of a 



WHITE-WINGED DOVE (Melopelia asiatka) 



Fig. 10 It has received its name from the extensive white area on either wing as shown in the fig- 

 ure. It has an incessant cooing note in the spring and early summer hence the name Paloma can- 

 lador given it by the Mexicans. 



and geographical distribution, while there is much to 

 be learned about them yet at least sufficient to induce 

 our young naturalists to employ their observational 

 powers with the view of obtaining unrecorded facts in 

 their life histories. 



More than a century ago, Alexander Wilson, who so 

 truthfully portrayed the lives and habits of many of 



MEXICAN GROUND DOVE 



Fig. II Mexican Ground I>oves (C. p. pallescens) are found 

 in Lower California, southern Arizona and lower Texas regions. 



rich olive chocolate, changing to a reddish purple on the 

 under parts, paling out near the median line of the 

 body. These Quail Doves are distinctly American birds, 

 with no near relatives in any other part of the world; 

 and they are called Quail Doves for the reason that in 

 their plumage markings they resemble certain species of 

 Partridges, but there the resemblance ceases. 



I may say that in no respect can we draw very sharp 

 distinctions between the true wild pigeon on the one 

 hand and the doves upon the other; the groups practi- 

 cally merge into each other. Either group offers much 

 of interest in the matters of structure, habits, nesting. 



THE KEY WEST QUAIL DOVE 



Fig. 12 A rather highly colored species with respect to plum- 

 age (Geotrygon chrysia), inhabiting the Florida Keys, Baha- 

 mas, Cuba and Haiti. The Ruddy Quail-Dove is the only other 

 form of the genus, while the Blue-headed Quail-Dove {Star- 

 noisnas cyanoccphala) is another beautiful form and the only 

 one not pictorially illustrated in the present article. 



