Habits of the White -winged Dove. 
187 
in percliing, so that they were often observed merely as 
silhouettes through the thin foliage. When perched in t.xcs 
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 sahuraros. There may be some irregu- 
larity in the period of breeding in this pigeon, as on the evenir g 
of June 9th, at Webb's Well near the northwest base of Woolsey 
Peak (dila Bend Mountains) I found White-winged Dove J. 
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. 
The morning flight from the colonies near the Gila River 
began an hour after sunrise and continued until nearly noon. 
During the middle of the day the birds were quiet, but they 
began again to pass out to feed in the late afternoon, continuing 
until sunset. While in the mesquite montes 1 saw little of these 
daily flights, save when birds chanced to pass overhead, as the 
cover was too dense, but from the open country surrounding 
the groves the interesting movement of the birds was easily 
observed. The White-wings left the colonies singly or in. 
little flocks of five or six. As they travelled, these smaller 
bands frequently joined until often fifteen or twenty birds were 
flying in one group. A purple drupe, one-fourth of an inch in 
diameter, borne by a spiny shrub {Condalia spathulata) was a 
favorite food at this season and the birds also ate the fruits of tho 
giant cactus as rapidly as they ripened. Various seeds were 
taken also. Harvesting of grain began in this valley about tlu 
first of June and continued imtil the end of the month. Fields 
of wheat or barley that had been cut recently were attractive 
to the White-wings as here they found an abundant source of 
food. The wheat grown in this region shattered (or shelled 
out) badly during the process of cutting, binding, and shocking, 
so that kernels of grain were scattered thickly over the fields 
Further, there was much additional waste grain from heads 
