144 LIFE HISTOEIBS OF InOETH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



March, who found this species breeding near the Salt Ponds, Spanishtown, 

 Jamaica, in May, 1863, it nests indiscriminately on the ground or in trees, 

 making a slight platform of sticks and twigs loosely put together. It breeds 

 from April to the end of July, and probably raises two broods a season. 



None of the more recent explorers seem to have met with this species on 

 the Florida Keys, and if found there at all now, it must be considered as 

 rather rare. 



I can add nothing new to these accounts. The eggs are two in number, 

 pure white in color, oval in shape, and more rounded than Pigeon eggs gen- 

 erally are. * 



The average measurement of eleven eggs of this species in the U. S. 

 National Museum collection, is 31 by 23.5 millimetres. The largest measures 

 34 by 23, the smallest 29 by 22.5 millimetres. None of these eggs were col- 

 lected within the limits of the United States. 



The type specimen (No. 6140, PI. 2, Fig. 21) was collected near Spanish- 

 town, Jamaica, by Mr. W. T. March, in May, 1863. 



49. Engyptila albifrons (Bonaparte). 



WHITE-FRONTED DOVE. 



Leptoptila albifrons Bonaparte, Conspectus Avium, n, December, 1854, 74. 

 Engyptila albifrons Coues, Bulletin Nuttall Ornithological Club, v, April, 1880, 100. 



(B — , C — R 463, C 542, U 318.) 



Geographical range: Valley of the Lower Rio Grande in Texas, and southward 

 to Mexico and Guatemala. 



The breeding range of the White-fronted Dove within the limits of the 

 United States, as at present known, is confined to the Lower Rio Grande 

 Valley, Texas, where Mr. George C. Sennett obtained the first specimen found 

 within our border, on April 18, 1877, in a tract of timber near the bank of the 

 Rio Grande, a mile below Hidalgo, Texas. In his "Further Notes on the Orni- 

 thology of the Lower Rio Grande of Texas," he writes as follows about this spe- 

 cies: "Dr. Finley reports the arrival of this Pigeon at the vicinity of Hidalgo 

 and Lomita about the middle of February, its departure having taken place 

 in November. Although it is less numerous than the Red-billed Pigeon, yet 

 by its peculiar note is is easily distinguished from all other species, and can 

 thus be readily obtained. We heard it daily. It is so much more retiring 

 in its habits than other Pigeons, that, were it not for the peculiarity we men- 

 tion, it would be met with very seldom. It frequents the dense and heavy 

 growth of timber, and long and frequent were our endeavors to find its nest." 1 



A nest was finally found by a Mexican assistant of Mr. Sennett's, in some 

 dense shrubbery in the river bottom, containing two eggs. The parent was also 

 shot at the same time. The two eggs obtained enabled him to identify two 



1 U. S. Geological and Geographical Survey, Hayden, Vol. v, No. 3, p. 424. 



