BREWSTER: BIRDS OF THE CAPE REGION, LOWER CALIFORNIA. 77 
Columba fasciata vioscae Brewster, Auk, V. 1888, 86 (orig. descr.; type from La 
Laguna). <A. O. U. Comm., Suppl. to Check List, 1889, 8; Check List, 
abridged ed., 1889, and 2d ed., 1895, no. 312a. Bryant, Proe. Calif. Acad. 
Sci., 2d ser., II. 1889, 277 (Cape St. Lucas; Miraflores; Victoria Mts.) ; 
Zoe, II. 1891, 198 (Victoria Mts.). Brnptre, Life Hist. N. Amer. Birds, 
pt. I. 1892, 127, 128, pl. 3, fig. 18 (descr. nest and egg from near Pierce’s 
Ranch, Lower Calif.). Cours, Key N. Amer. Birds, 4th ed., 1894, 904 
(descr.; Lower Calif.). Ripaway, Man. N. Amer. Birds, 2d ed., 1896, 591 
(descr.; s. portions of Lower Calif.). 
Columba vioscae Satvavort, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., XXI. 1893, 293, 294 (quotes 
orig. descr.; San José del Rancho; Lower Calif.). 
[Columba] vioscae SHARPE, Hand-list, I. 1899, 70. 
This Pigeon seems to be strictly confined to the Cape Region, for neither Mr. 
Bryant nor Mr. Anthony has succeeded in finding it in the central or northern 
portions of the Peninsula where true fasccata is also apparently wanting. 
On reaching the summit of the Sierra de la Laguna, on April 26, 1887, Mr. 
Frazar saw his first Viosca’s Pigeons. At this date they were not numerous, 
nor did they become so until May 15, when they began cooing. During the 
latter part of May they were abundant, although still in flocks, some of which 
contained upwards of fifty birds each. They continued to increase in numbers 
up to the date of Mr. Frazar’s departure — June 9. A female taken on June 3 
had apparently laid one egg and was certainly about to lay another. This was 
the only instance of breeding noted here. The people living in the neighbor- 
hood asserted that eggs were seldom found before August, and that the number 
in a nest varies from one to two. 
At San José del Rancho Viosca’s Pigeons were numerous in July, feeding 
greedily on wild grapes, which were ripe by the 5th of the month. The 
owner of this ranch said that the birds had first appeared there about the mid- 
dle of May. They apparently did not begin breeding until the middle of July, 
when a nest containing one egg was reported by a hunter. Mr. Frazar visited 
this nest on July 22 and found it empty, but a broken egg was lying on the 
ground beneath. On the 27th a perfect ege was taken from the oviduct of a 
bird. By the last of July most of the Pigeons had left the neighborhood, 
“owing probably to the grapes having gone by.” 
At San José del Cabo large flocks were observed in September passing south- 
ward. Mr. Frazar believes that the majority left Lower California that season 
before winter set in, although he saw a few on November 15 along the road 
between San José and Miraflores and others at San José del Rancho, Decem- 
ber 18-25. None were found on the Sierra de la Laguna between November 
27 and December 2. 
The note of this Pigeon seemed to Mr. Frazar “more the hoo of an Owl than 
the coo of a Dove. It is given twice, and is low and deep in tone. The birds 
fly in compact flocks but not as swiftly as the White-winged Doves.” 
Mr. Belding found? Viosca’s Pigeon “ abundant and breeding in February ” 
1 Loc. cit. 
