Part 87

Tail of twelve feathers rounded …

Zenaida.

Tail of fourteen feathers, graduated or cuneate …

Zenaidura.

=Chamæpelieæ.= Size very small. Wings rounded, the primaries scarcely longer than the tertials. Tarsus scutellate anteriorly. No blackish spot beneath the auriculars; no metallic gloss on sides of the neck.

Tail of twelve feathers, lengthened (much longer than wings), doubly rounded, the lateral feathers much shorter; the three outer pairs with white terminally …

Scardafella.

Tail of twelve feathers, short (much less than wings), simply rounded, the lateral feathers only slightly shorter; outer feathers without white terminally, or with only a slight edging. Wing-coverts with oblique black spots, and body without transverse blackish bars.

Outside of the tarsus with a narrow feathered strip; lining of the wing blackish …

Talpacota.

Outside of the tarsus without a feathered strip; lining of the wing wholly rufous …

Chamæpelia.

=Starnœnadeæ.= Size moderate (generally a little larger than Zenaida); form robust, or quail-like. Legs very stout; tarsi decidedly longer than the middle toe, variously scaled anteriorly. Wings short, very broad, and much rounded, but the primaries decidedly longer than the secondaries.

Legs very stout; tarsi covered with hexagonal scales; crown blue; a black gular patch, bordered below by white …

Starnœnas.

Legs moderate; tarsi covered anteriorly with transverse scutellæ. Crown never blue, and throat without black or white markings …

Geotrygon.

The genera characterized above are all more or less nearly related to others belonging to South America, and many of these apparently form connecting links between the several North American ones. Thus, “Columbina” picui, Gray (of Chili), and C. strepitans (of Paraguay), are almost exactly intermediate between Scardafella and Chamæpelia, both in form and colors. “Leptoptila” is in reality scarcely more than a very large Chamæpelia with an approach to Zenaida in more lengthened primaries, and to Geotrygon in the lengthened tarsus.

“Peristera” cinerea is again a slightly enlarged reproduction of Chamæpelia, with the same pattern of coloration, but without rufous on the inside of the wing.

Starnœnas and Geotrygon are nearly connected by the G. chiriquensis, which agrees with the genus to which it is referred in the scutellate tarsi, and with Starnœnas in the peculiar structure of the feathers of the neck, which have, as in that “genus,” a stiff, compact structure, and rather raylike arrangement.

GENUS MELOPELIA, BONAP.

Melopelia, BONAP. Consp. II, Dec. 1854, 81. (Type, Columba leucoptera, L.)

GEN. CHAR. Similar to Zenaida; the orbital region and lore more naked; the bill longer; the middle toe longer; the hinder shorter. Tarsal scutellæ in a single series anteriorly. First quill nearly as long as the second and third. A large white patch on wing-coverts, lower parts light ashy.

This genus, like nearly all the North American ones, is represented by but a single species in the United States.

Melopelia leucoptera, (LINN.) BONAP.

WHITE-WINGED DOVE.

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.