296 
BIRDS OF NEW MEXICO 
buggy covered with burlap proved not only an original but most suc¬ 
cessful blind. On the way to it, however, he was attended by all the 
birds of the colony and constantly attacked by the owners of the nest 
he was photographing. In attacking, the Terns dropped their feet 
and struck his head with the bill. As “bird after bird hit the same 
spot,” he confesses he was “glad to reach the shelter of the burlap.” 
While one female was brooding “a small cloud of birds was passing 
backwards and forwards overhead all the time,” but amid all the 
clamor he was surprised to find that she recognized the voice of her 
mate. Suddenly looking up expectantly she would become alert, and 
in a moment or two he would alight by the nest. The pair relieved 
each other in brooding at short intervals. One of Mr. Pittman’s 
beautiful photographs shows a parent sheltering its young from the 
sun (1927, 140-143). 
Additional Literature—Bent, A. C., U. S. Nat. Mus. 113, 290-299, 1921 - 
Chapman, F. M., Camps and Cruises, 324-329, 1908 (nesting).— Job, H. K., Among 
the Water-Fowl, 166-168, 1902.— Rockwell, R. B., Condor, XIII, 61-63, 1911.— 
Seton, E. T., and F. M. Chapman, Bird-Lore, VI, 15, 1904.— Van Rossem, A. J., 
Condor, XXV, 208-213,1923. 
PIGEONS, DOVES, etc.: Order Columbiformes 
PIGEONS AND DOVES: Family Columbidae 
The Pigeons and Doves have the bill horny at tip, compressed, 
with a soft swelling near the base about the nostril; toes 4, 3 anterior 
generally cleft to base; rear toe, with few exceptions, at about the 
same level. The crop is large, secreting a milky fluid, which is 
regurgitated as food for the young; the gizzard is muscular, sometimes 
even horny or osseous. The Pigeons are monogamous, the male 
sharing in the care of the young. 
“Some of the Pigeons and Doves are strictly arboreal, others as 
strictly terrestrial. Some seek the forests and others prefer fields and 
clearings. Some nest in colonies, others in isolated pairs, but most 
species are found in flocks of greater or less size after the breeding 
season. When drinking, they do not raise the head as most birds do 
to swallow, but keep the bill immersed until the draught is finished. 
. . . Both sexes incubate, the males daily period, so far as known, 
being from 10 a. in. to 4 p. m. The young are born naked, and are fed 
by regurgitation on predigested food, or 'Pigeon’s milk’ from the 
crop of the parent” (Chapman, 1912). “Doves and Pigeons are 
migratory and are protected under both State and Federal laws” 
(Ligon, 1927). 
BAND-TAILED PIGEON: Columba fasciata fasciata Say 
Plate 31 
Description. — Length: 15-16 inches, wing 8-8.8, tail 6-6.5. Adult male: Head, 
neck, and underparts mainly pinkish brown or vinaceous, naye with white band above 
