COLUMB^: 



OEDBE Ij U 1j U IVi D ilj . PIGEONS, &0. 



Family COLUMBID^ : Pigeons. 



OOLCTMBA FASCIATA, Say. 

 Band-tailed Pigeon. 



Coluniba fasclata, Say, Long's Exp. ii, 18-23, 10.— Bp., Am. Orn. i, 1825, 77, pi. — , f. 3 ; Syn. 



1828, 119; List, 1838, 41.— Wagl., S. Av. 1827.— Ndtt., Man. i, 1832, 624.— AuD., 



Oru. Biog. iv, 1838, 479, pi. 367 ; Syn. 1839, 191 ; B. Am. iv, 1842, 312, pi. 279.— 



WooDH., Sitgr. Eep. 1853, 92.— Newb., P. R. E Rep. vi, 1857, 92.— Bd., B. N. A. 



1858, 597.— SCL., P. Z. S. 1858, 359 (Cordova) ; 1858, 304 (Oaxaca) ; lb5;), 369 



(Xalapa).— Sai.v., Ibis, 1860, 276 ^Guatemala).— Coop. & Suck., N. H. Wash. 



Ter. 1860, 217.— CouES, Pr. Pliila. Acad. 1866, 93 (Arizona).— Sumich., Mem. 



Bost. Soc. i, 1869, 562 (Vera Cruz).— Coop., B. Gal. i, 1870, 506.— Coop., Am. 



Nat. iii, 1869, 80 (Montana Territory).— Gray, Hand-list, ii, 1870, 235, No. 



9269.— COUBS, Key, 1872, 225.— SCHL., M. P.-B. 1873, 67.— B. B. & R., N. A. 



B. iii, 1874, 358, 360, pi. 57, f. 2. 

 Tcenicenas fasciata, Reich., Syst. Av. pi. 223, f. 1255 ; pi. 255, figs. 2865, 2866. 

 Clilorcenas fasciata, Bp., Consp. ii, 1854, 51. 

 Columba riMnilk, ViG., Beechey's Voy. 1839, 26, pi. 10. 

 Cidorcettas moniUs, Rbich., Syst. Av. pi. 227, f. 2481. 



Hab. — Eooky Mountains to the Pacific, United States, and southward to South; 

 America. 



No specimens of this bird were ever taken by the Expeditions, and 

 it has not yet, to my knowledge, been actually found in the Missouri 

 water-shed. It has occurred, however, to Dr. Cooper, near the Cceur 

 d'Alene Mission, in Montana, and, as a bird of the Eocky Mountains, 

 may not improperly be brought into the present connection. There is 

 no reasonable doubt of its occasional presence about the Missouri head- 

 waters. 



It is common in many parts of the West. I was, however, disap- 

 pointed in not meeting it more than once or twice in Arizona, where I 

 had anticipated its plentiful occurrence, at least during the migrations. 

 Its movements appear to be somewhat irregular; while it is abundant 

 in some regions, it is absent from others apparently equally favorable. 

 This may depend upon the precarious supply of certain favorite kinds 

 of food, and thus correspond somewhat to the more conspicuous case of 

 the Passenger Pigeon, whose notorious wanderings are mainly jirompted 

 by the same circumstances. It appears to breed indifferently in various 

 parts of its range, even so far south as Santa Cruz. The accounts of its 

 nesting that were for some years relied upon, are not entirely correct. 

 Mr. Townsend's notice, which Audubon printed, is to the effect that the 

 bird lays on the ground without any nest whatever, the eggs being " of 

 a yellowish-white color, inclining to bluish-white, with minute spots at 

 the great end. Whereas, as in other Pigeons, the eggs are pure white, 

 smooth and glistening, nearly elliptical in shape, measuring 1.50 inches 

 long by 1.20 broad." According to other authority, the bird builds a 

 simple nest of twigs in a forked branch, or on a horizontal bough. But 

 situation of a nest is among the very variable elements of the ornitho- 

 logical problem, since it depends upon many fortuitous circumstances. 

 As is well known, the Common Dove [Zencedura carolinensis) nestles 

 with equal readiness on the ground or in bushes. In colder countries, 

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