46 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



dalgo. The locality was a grove of large trees, with undergrowth, and 

 clumps of bushes matted with vines. While prying about the thick 

 vines, I flushed the bird off its nest, and it alighted in one of the tall 

 trees near by. It took me but a moment or two to examine the nest 

 and shoot the bird. In less than ten minutes' time I had also its mate. 

 The nest was only eight or nine feet from the ground, and set upon the 

 horizontal branches of a sapling in the midst of the vines. It was com- 

 posed of sticks, lined with fine stems and grasses, had a depression of 

 an inch or more, and was about eight inches in outside diameter by two 

 and one-half inches deep. It contained one egg, with embryo just 

 formed. Dissection of the bird showed that she would have laid no 

 more. 



On May 3d, I found another nest very similarly situated in a dense 

 thicket on the border of a woods. The bird was seen ; the nest con- 

 tained one addled egg. 



On May 8th, at Lomita Eanche, a few miles above Hidalgo, in the fine 

 grove of ebonies in the rear of the buildings of the ranche, I found two 

 nests. Both were well up in the trees, one about twenty-five feet and 

 the other about thirty. The nests were situated close to the body of the 

 trees, on large branches, and were composed of sticks and grasses, with 

 an inside depth of about two inches. One contained a single egg^ far 

 advanced ; in the other, also, lay a solitary egg, from which a young 

 chick was just emerging. The parents persisted in staying about, not- 

 withstanding we were making a great disturbance, even shooting into 

 the same trees. Whenever we would go off some distance, they would 

 immediately go on their nests, and seemed loth to leave them at our 

 return. These were the only ones seen breeding so near habitations. 



The grove was a common resort for man and beast, besides being the 

 place where wagons, tools, &c., were kept and repaired. 



On May 11th, I obtained my fifth and last nest. I found it in the woods 

 at the fork of two roads, a mile or so from the village, down the river. 

 This nest I had discovered a week or so before, complete, but empty. 

 It was situated about ten feet from the ground, in one of a thick clump 

 of small trees, at the junction of several small branches. It was com- 

 posed of twigs and rootlets, without grasses, and had a depression of 

 one and one-half inches. The bird was flushed from the nest and shot. 

 Upon examination, the solitary egg showed that incubation had begun, 

 and dissection of the bird proved that no other eggs were developed for 

 laying. 



From my observations, I conclude that th.e Eed-billed Pigeon breeds 

 on our extreme southern border during April and May; that it builds 

 a nest differing from those of other Pigeons, and lays but one egg. The 

 only authority at my command mentioning the habits of this species is 

 "North American Birds", by Baird, Brewer and Eidgway. In vol. iii., 

 page 367, mention is made of the two eggs of this bird being somewhat 

 larger than those of Z. caroUnensis, Carolina Dove. The same page 



