_Columba leucoptera_, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1758, 164 (Jamaica).—GM.
Syst. Nat. I, 1788, 773.—WAGL. Syst. Av. 1827, _Columba_, No.
71.—MCCALL, Pr. A. N. Sc. Phil. IV, 1848, 64. _Zenaida leucoptera_,
GRAY, Gen. B. _Turtur leucopterus_, GOSSE, B. Jam. 1847, 304.
_Melopelia leucoptera_, BONAP. Consp. Av. II, 1854, 81.—BAIRD, Birds
N. Am. 1858, 603.—REICHENB. Handb. Taub. 22, tab. 254, f. 1417; 255,
f. 2869.—MARCH, P. A. N. S. 1863, 302.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 515.
_? Columba hoilotl_, GM. S. N. I, 1788, 777. _Columba trudeaui_, AUD.
Birds Am. VII, 1843, 352, pl. ccccxcvi.
SP. CHAR. General color fine ashy, with an olivaceous cast on upper
surface, the middle tail-feathers being decidedly brownish; secondaries
and primaries blackish. Beneath paler ashy, with a light drab cast
anteriorly (lightest on the throat), the abdomen and sides with a fine
light-bluish cast; anal region white, crissum more bluish. Occiput with
a purplish tinge. A spot of black, with steel-blue reflection below the
ears; a large patch of white on the wing, covering the lower coverts
from the elbow to the secondaries; secondaries margined terminally
with white. Terminal fourth of tail-feathers, except the two medial,
ashy-white, preceded by a subterminal blackish band. _Male_ with faint
purplish-golden reflections on the sides of the neck, and the throat
and jugulum inclining to ochrey-vinaceous; the occiput and nape decided
purplish. _Female_ with this scarcely apparent. _Male_: wing, 6.80;
tail, 5.10; culmen, .84; tarsus, 1.06; middle toe, 1.10. _Female_
slightly smaller.
[Illustration: =13010= ♂ ½ ½
_Melopelia leucoptera_, Bonap.]
HAB. Southern border of United States, from Texas to Arizona and Lower
California; Mexico, south to Costa Rica, Cuba and Jamaica, Oaxaca,
highlands (SCL. 1858, 305); Cordova (1856, 309); Jamaica (GOSSE, B. J.
304); Honduras (TAYLOR, Ibis, II, 227); City of Mexico (SCL. P. Z. S.
1864, 178); Southeastern Texas, breeding (DRESSER, Ibis, 1866, 24); Cuba
(GUNDL. Rep. I, 1866, 301); Fort Whipple, Arizona (COUES, P. A. N. S.
1866, 93); Costa Rica (LAWR. IX, 139); Yucatan (LAWR. IX, 207).
However remarkable and exceptional the distribution of this species may
appear in occurring in Cuba and Jamaica and in Mexico, from the Atlantic
coast to Cape St. Lucas, and north to Santa Fé, New Mexico, we have yet
been unable to find any tangible differences in specimens from these
extreme localities. The Jamaica bird has rather a more decided wash of
brown on the neck and forehead, the toes apparently shorter; but as
specimens from the same locality vary in this respect, it is probable
that in a large series such differences will disappear in the average.
[Illustration: _Melopelia leucoptera._]
HABITS. This species is found on the Lower Rio Grande, in Arizona,
and, according to Dr. Cooper, in California. It also occurs in Mexico,
and was taken in Tamaulipas by Lieutenant Couch, March, 1858. It has
also been met with in several of the West India Islands and in Central
America.
This species is abundant in Jamaica, where, according to Mr. March, it
is more a lowland than a mountain Dove. They are said to be gregarious,
usually keeping in flocks of from ten to twenty, but in January and
in February, in the Guinea-corn season, and at other times when the
_Cerei_ are in fruit, they congregate in large flocks, often of several
hundreds. Their food is principally grain and seeds, but they are
equally fond of the ripe fruit of the different species of _Cereus_
abounding on the savannas and salines during the summer. Inland, the
White-wings, in the same manner as the Baldpate, breed in solitary
pairs; but in the mangrove swamps, and in the islands along the coast,
they breed in company, many in the same tree. The nest is a frail
platform of sticks, with a slight hollow lined with leaves and bark, and
sometimes a few feathers. The eggs are two, of an oblong-oval shape,
glarish-white in color, measuring 1.31 inches in length by .94 of an
inch in breadth. Mr. March adds that the White-wing is often kept in
confinement, where it occasionally breeds. It is at first quite wild,
fluttering in alarm at the approach of any person, but afterwards
becomes quite docile if attended with care. It has been known to cross
and mate with the _Turtur risorius_, a bird which has been introduced
into Jamaica. Mr. March had, at the time his paper appeared, a male
White-wing mated with a female Ringdove.
This species was found at Omoa, Honduras, by Mr. Leyland, and by Mr.
Salvin about Dueñas, Guatemala, where it was one of the common Doves. It
was found on the ground, in the open savannas.
Mr. G. C. Taylor (Ibis, 1860) found this bird abundant in Central
America, especially on the Pacific coast and in the environs of
Comayagua. He adds that he found this species most plentiful in the
vicinity of houses and cornfields, while the _Z. carolinensis_ seem to
prefer the woods and open plains. Both were easily shot, and were found
to be excellent eating.
Mr. Dresser found this species very common near Matamoras and
Brownsville, and as far into the interior of Texas as Sal Colorado,
after which it becomes rare, and he never saw any farther east or north
than the Rio Nueces. It is not uncommon at Eagle Pass, where he saw
many in cages in the huts of the Mexicans. Their stomachs were found to
contain maize and caterpillars.
Mr. Xantus, in his notes upon the birds of Cape St. Lucas, mentions
finding several of the nests and eggs of this Dove. All the nests
mentioned contained two eggs. One was in the fork of a leafless tree,
about ten feet from the ground; another was about six feet high and
placed on a small dwarf-oak; and a third, found May 20, was in a
thorn-bush, about ten feet from the ground. In one instance a single
egg, already incubated, was found on the top of a large cactus trunk,
but without any indication of a nest.
The eggs of this species are oval in shape, white, of equal size at
either end, and measure 1.35 inches by .92.