Part 85

SP. CHAR. Second and third quills equal, and decidedly longer than the first and fourth, also nearly equal. Tail truncate, slightly rounded. Head and neck all round, breast, and a large patch on the middle and lesser wing-coverts, light chocolate-red, the latter deeper and more opaque red; the middle of the back, scapulars, and tertials olive; the rest of body, wings, and tail very dark slaty-blue; the inferior and concealed surfaces of the latter black. Bill and legs yellow in the dried skin, said to be purple in life; eyes purple. Length, 14.00; wing, 8.00; tail, 5.70.

HAB. Lower Rio Grande, and Mexico, south to Costa Rica. Oaxaca (SCL. 1859, 391); (Cordova, 1856, 309); Honduras (TAYLOR, Ibis, II, 226; SALV. Ibis, III, 355); City of Mexico (SCL. P. Z. S. 1864, 178); Southeastern Texas, breeding (DRESSER, Ibis, 1866, 23); Costa Rica (LAWR. IX, 134).

There is no trace of any metallic scale-like feathers on the neck of this species. The wing-feathers, including the greater coverts, are whitish on their external border. There is sometimes a tinge of the red on the inside of the wing.

The C. inornata of Jamaica (see synopsis) is wonderfully similar, except in the form and color of the bill; the plumage of the two does not differ in the minutest particular. The West Indian bird is much the larger, however, the bill black, and very differently shaped.

The Columba solitaria of McCall appears to be closely related to this species, but, judging from the description, seems to differ in having the head and neck bluish rather than red. It may possibly be the female of C. flavirostris, as this sex usually has a bluish tinge instead of red; the smaller size, too, would favor this supposition.

=Habits.= The Red-billed Dove claims a place in the North American fauna only as a resident in the valley of the Lower Rio Grande River. It appears also to be found on and near the gulf-coast of Mexico and Central America.

It was taken at New Leon, Mexico, in March, 1853, by Lieutenant Couch, and on the Rio Grande by Mr. A. Schott. It was first seen by the former in the thick woody bottoms of the San Juan, New Leon. The birds were quite common, but remained very secluded. They are said to be of very rapid flight.

Mr. G. C. Taylor (Ibis, 1860, p. 226) mentions finding these birds not uncommon on Tigre Island, in Honduras, but did not meet with them in the interior. He speaks of them as very handsome birds, but gives no account of their habits.

Mr. Henry E. Dresser found the Red-billed Dove quite common near Matamoras, and breeding there. During the autumn great quantities, as well as of the leucoptera and the carolinensis, are brought to the market for sale. At Brownsville, also, these birds were not uncommon, but were found for only a short distance towards the interior of Texas, and none were seen higher up the Rio Grande than Roma. A Mexican, who shot doves for the market, informed Mr. Dresser that he had found this species breeding near the town of Matamoras, and that it builds a nest somewhat similar to that of Z. carolinensis, but that its two eggs are somewhat larger. Their stomachs were found filled with a kind of blueberry.

Eggs in the Berlandier collection are oval in shape, equal and slightly tapering at either end, and of a creamy-white color. They measure 1.18 inches in length by .90 of an inch in breadth.

GENUS ECTOPISTES, SWAINSON.

Ectopistes, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 362. (Type, Columba migratoria, L.)

GEN. CHAR. Head very small. Bill short, black; culmen one third the rest of the head; feathers of the chin running very far forward; gonys very short. Tarsi very short, half covered anteriorly by feathers. Inner lateral claw much larger than outer, reaching to the base of the middle one. Tail very long and excessively cuneate; above as long as the wings. First primary longest. Black spots on scapulars; a black and a rufous spot on inner webs of tail-feathers.

This genus is readily distinguished from the other Columbinæ by the excessively lengthened and acute middle feathers. It formerly included the Columba carolinensis, but this, with more propriety, has been erected into a different genus, and will be found in the next section.

Ectopistes migratoria.]

The Ectopistes migratoria is blue above, the male purplish-red beneath, the female brownish-ashy, passing into whitish behind. The wing above and scapulars are spotted with bluish-black, the sides of the neck with metallic gloss of solferino-purple; the inner webs of tail-feathers have each a rufous and a black spot.

Ectopistes migratoria, SWAINSON.

WILD PIGEON; PASSENGER-PIGEON.

Columba migratoria, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 285.—GM. I, 389.—FORSTER, Phil. Trans. LXII, 1772, 398.—WILSON, Am. Orn. I, 1808, 102, pl. xliv.—WAGLER, Syst. Av. 1827, No. 91.—AUD. Orn. Biog. I, 1831, 319; V, 561, pl. lxii. Ectopistes migratoria, SWAINSON, Zoöl. Jour. III, 1827, 355.—IB. F. Bor. Am. II, 1831, 363.—BON. Consp. Av. II, 1854, 59.—AUD. Syn. 1839, 194.—IB. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 25, pl. cclxxxv.—“REICH. Icones Av. tab. 249, figs. 1377, 1379.”—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 600.—MAX. Cab. J. VI, 1858, 424.—LORD, Pr. R. A. I. IV, 122 (British Columbia, from coast; nest on ground).—COOPER & SUCKLEY, 218.—COOPER, Orn. Cal. I, 1870, 509. Columba canadensis, LINNÆUS, Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 284.—GM. I, 1788, 785. Female or young. (Prior name ?) Columba americana, “KALM, It. II, 527.” Passenger Pigeon, PENNANT, II, 322.—LATH. Syn. II, II, 661.

SP. CHAR. Tail with twelve feathers. Upper parts generally, including sides of body, head, and neck, and the chin, blue. Beneath, purple brownish-red, fading behind into a violet tint. Anal region and under tail-coverts bluish-white. Scapulars, inner tertials, and middle of back with an olive-brown tinge; the wing-coverts, scapulars, and inner tertials with large oval spots of blue-black on the outer webs, mostly concealed, except on the latter. Primaries blackish, with a border of pale bluish tinged internally with red. Middle tail-feather brown; the rest pale blue on the outer web, white internally; each with a patch of reddish-brown at the base of the inner web, followed by another of black. Sides and back of neck richly glossed with metallic golden-violet or reddish-purple. Tibiæ bluish-violet. Bill black. Feet lake-red. The female is smaller, much duller in color, more olivaceous above; beneath, pale ash instead of red, except a tinge on the neck; the jugulum tinged with olive, the throat whitish. Length of male, 17.00; wing, 8.50; tail, 8.40.

HAB. North America to high Central Plains; West Humboldt Mountains, Nevada (September; RIDGWAY). Cuba (GUNDL. Rep. I, 1866, 302; CAB. J. IX, 112).

The blue of the side of the head extends to the throat and chin. The upper part of the back and lesser coverts are of a darker blue than the head and rump. The inner primaries are more broadly margined with light blue, which tapers off to the end. The axillars and under surface of the wing are light blue. The longest scapulars have the black on both webs. There is no blue on the outer web of the first tail-feather, which is white, as is the inferior surface of the tail generally.

In some specimens the entire head all round is blue.

The immature male varies in having most of the feathers of the head and body margined with whitish.

HABITS. The common Passenger Pigeon of North America is found throughout the continent in great abundance, from the Atlantic to the great Central Plains, and from the Southern States, in which it only occasionally occurs, to at least the 62d parallel of northern latitude, in the interior.

Richardson states that this Pigeon arrives in the fur countries in the latter part of May and leaves in October. On the coast of Hudson’s Bay it reaches no farther than the 58th parallel, and only in very fine summers, but in the interior or in the warmer central districts it attains to the 62d degree. Mr. Hutchins mentions, as a remarkable occurrence, that a flock of these Pigeons visited York Factory and remained two days.

It is not found on the Pacific coast. Dr. Suckley only met with a single bird in immature plumage on a branch of Milk River, in Nebraska, about one hundred and seventy-five miles east of the Rocky Mountains; he thinks the eastern base may be considered their western limit. Dr. Cooper has seen it at Fort Laramie, but has never seen nor heard of it in Oregon, though Townsend mentions it as found there.

Dr. Woodhouse found these Pigeons common throughout the Indian Territory in the spring and fall, during their migrations.