July, 1920 HABITS OF THE WHITE-WINGED DOVE 143 
When females were flushed from nests containing fresh eggs usually they 
flew directly away with a loud clap, clap of their wings. When incubating or 
brooding young the procedure was often different. Then they dropped to the 
ground and fluttered rapidly away, continually falling forward as though in- 
jured, while moving the partly spread wings tremulously. Their course on such 
occasions was behind low hanging limbs or fallen branches where it was difficult 
to secure a clear view, a circumstance that should aid in attracting attention 
from any enemy. In case the male was near and had not recognized me he often 
dropped down to the ground and stalked about truculently, with the feathers 
on his back elevated and those on his throat and upper breast raised until each 
one stood out separate from the others, so that as he walked along he appeared 
twice his normal size. Occasionally other males from trees nearby flew down 
precipitately toward the female as though to determine what was wrong with her. 
In displaying before females males had a curious habit or pose in which 
they raised the tail high and tilted the body forward. At the same time the tail 
was spread widely and then closed with a quick flash of the prominent black 
and white markings. In the breeding colonies males at intervals flew out with 
quick, full strokes of the spread wings, rising until they were thirty or forty feet 
in the air. The wings were then set stiffly with the tips decurved, while the birds 
scaled around above the mesquites in a great circle that often brought them to 
their original perches. The contrasted markings of the wings showed brilliantly 
during this flight and the whole was most striking and attractive. In the cooler 
part of the morning males performed constantly in this manner over the rookery. 
When I sat down near nests the owners often perched near by, turning their 
heads curiously and watching me closely for many minutes. At the same time 
they twitched the tail nervously, spreading it as described above. This action 
was shown by wing-tipped birds also, so that it is apparently used when the birds 
are nervous, excited, or curious, as well as in display. 
White-winged Doves start in flight with a loud clapping of wings that is 
accompanied by a whistling noise. When the birds are well under way their 
passage, while swift and direct, is noiseless. The sound at the start resembles 
that made by domestic pigeons. The White-wing, like certain tropical doves (for 
example the White-headed and Sealed pigeons) in perching in cottonwoods or 
other trees with dense foliage, usually alights among clumps of leaves on the 
higher outer branches rather than on dead limbs or in open situations such as 
those chosen by Mourning Doves. So well did the birds conceal themselves that 
after I had seen half a dozen fly into such a tree, it was not unusual to be unable 
to pick out a single dove in spite of their large size. In the mesquite they fol- 
lowed the same practice in perching, so that they were often observed merely as 
silhouettes through the thin foliage. When perched in trees they remained quiet 
save when they were calling. 
In the desert areas White-wings nested more or less at random, wherever 
suitable palo verdes and mesquites occurred. In such localities males frequently 
basked in the morning sun on the flat tops of the huge sahuaros. There may be 
some irregularity in the period of breeding in this pigeon as on the evening 
of June 9, at Webb’s Well near the northwest base of Woolsey Peak 
(Gila Bend Mountains), I found White-winged Doves gathering at dusk in little 
flocks of half a dozen or more to roost in palo verdes and mesquites along the 
banks of a dry wash. All that were killed in such localities were males. These 
desert birds proved to be warier than those found in the cultivated lands. 
