342 KEY WEST DOVE. 



COLOR. Adult. General color of upper parts, brownish-red, with the outer margins of the feathers of primaries and 

 tail edged with greenish. There isa purplish iridescence on the head, neck, hack, rump, and upper wing coverts, which 

 li;i~ jr. 'eenish reflections on the last two. Forehead and line behind eye, purplish-red, which is follcr.ved l>y a line of white, 

 bordered below by one of purplish, and the throat is white. Remainder of under parts, light purplish-red, becoming white 

 on tlie abdomen and under tail coverts. 



Ncst/inys. Dark ashy-brown, becoming considerably lighter below. Feet, pink, bill, yellow, red at base, iris, red, in 

 all stages. 



OBSERVATIONS. 



Readily known from other Doves by the prominent white markings as described. Occurs in summer on Key West, 

 but is constantly resident in the West Indies. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Average measurements of male specimens from the West Indies. Length, 11'15; stretch, 17'25; wing, 6'05; tail, 4'39; 

 bill, "73; tarsus, 1-13. Longest specimen, 11'75; greatest extent of wing, 17'50; longest wing, 6' 15; tail, 4'58; bill, - 75; 

 tarsus, 1'15. Shortest specimen, 10 60; smallest extent of wing, 17'00; shortest wing, 5'90: tail, 4'20; bill, '70; tarsus, Tls!. 



DESCRIPTION OF NESTS AND EGGS. 



Nests, placed in low bushes or on the ground; they are not bulky structures, being composed of sticks carelessly ar- 

 ranged, and are without lining. 



F,yyx, are, according to Audubon, two in number, oval in form, pure white in color, and about the size of those of the 

 White-headed Dove. 



HABITS. 



When I visited Key West in 1870, one of the first birds for which I searched, was 

 the Key West Pigeon. Having read Audubon's account of these birds, I had some idea 

 where to look for them and therefore, I started for the scrub, back of the town, a day or 

 two after my arrival. I found the thickets very dense but fortunately, they were traversed 

 by certain paths along which I walked cautiously, keeping a sharp lookout for something 

 new, when upon turning a corner suddenly, a Dove rose unexpectedly, with noiseless wings, 

 from the dust in front of me and, in a twinkling, vanished in the thicket. I promptly 

 turned to follow him, confident that I was about to secure a prize, for I could see that he 

 had alighted not far away. I am tolerably familiar, through a life-long experience, with 

 all kinds of woodland, but when I entered this thicket at Key West, I found that I had a 

 new lesson to learn, for a more impenetrable jungle, it was never my lot to see. It was 

 made up of small shrubbery, about ten feet in height, and, at least, three fourths of the 

 species were furnished with long hooked thorns, and the branches of them all were closely 

 interlaced from top to bottom with thorny vines. Several species of large cacti, armed with 

 long, sharp spines, grew plentifully among the luxuriant vegetation, and the way was 

 further impeded by triangular pieces of coral rock with which the surface of the ground 

 was strewed; add to this array of obstacles, the fact that the weather was intolerably hot 

 and that mosquitoes were very abundant, and one can judge that, although a jungle of this 

 description is quite picturesque when viewed from the outside, a closer inspection is not 

 so pleasant. Through these obstacles, then, I slowly wended my way, endeavoring to 

 preserve the utmost silence, but just as I caught sight of the wished for Dove which was 

 running along the ground, not far away, I stumbled over a pointed stone; the bird rose 

 and disappeared deeper in the thicket, w r here all my searching failed to discover him. A 

 few days later, I started another Dove but a similar misfortune prevented me from secur- 



