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.
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.