Part 93

Columba cyanocephala, LINN. Syst. Nat. I, 1766, 282.—GMELIN, Syst. I, 1788, 778.—WAGLER, Syst. Avium, 1827, Columba, No. 112.—AUD. Orn. Biog. II, 1834, 441; V. 1839, 557, pl. clxxii. Starnœnas cyanocephala, BONAP. List, 1838.—IB. Consp. II, 1854, 69.—AUD. Syn. 1839, 193.—IB. Birds Amer. V, 1842, 23, pl. cclxxxiv.—GUNDLACH, Cab. Journ. IV, 1856, 108.—BAIRD, Birds N. Am. 1858, 608.—CAB. J. IV, 108 (Cuba).—GUNDL. Repert. Cub. I, 1866, 299.—REICHENB. Handb. Taub. 30, tab. 257, f. 1431; 266, f. 2879–81. Starnœnas cyanocephala, REICHENBACH, Systema Av. 1851, p. xxv, pl. xxiii.—IB. Icones Av. tab. 260 and 266. Geophilus? cyanocephala, SELBY, Pigeons, Jard. Nat. Lib. V, 216, pl. xxvii. Columba (Lophyrus) cyanocephala, NUTTALL, Man. I, (2d. ed.,) 1840, 769. Columba tetraoides, (SCOPOLI,) GMELIN, I, 772. Blue-headed Turtle, LATHAM, Syn. II, II, 651.

SP. CHAR. Bill blue, the fleshy part at the base carmine. Iris brown, scales of feet carmine, the interspaces white. Above and on sides glossy dark chocolate-olivaceous; beneath brownish-red, lighter centrally. Chin and throat black, with a narrow border of white below. A white line begins in the chin, and passes under the eye to the occiput. Sides of head above this and forehead black; crown blue. Length, 10.70; wing, 5.40; tail, 4.35.

HAB. West India Islands; according to Audubon found occasionally at Key West, Florida, and other southern keys.

Starnœnas cyanocephala.]

The axillars and under surface of the wings are like the belly. The crissum is most like the back. The outer tail-feathers have a bluish tinge above.

The hind toe in this species is not strictly in the same plane with the others, but placed a little above their point of insertion.

HABITS. This handsome Pigeon belongs to the fauna of the West India Islands, and is only an occasional visitant of Key West and other southern keys of Florida. They are a common species in Cuba, from which island a few are stated by Mr. Audubon to migrate each year to certain of the keys of Florida, where, however, they are rarely seen on account of their living only in the most tangled thickets. Mr. Audubon saw a pair on the western side of Key West. They were near the water picking gravel, but they would not suffer a near approach. He saw a pair, also, that had been taken, when young, on “Mule Keys.” These fed well on cracked corn and rice, but he was unable to obtain any further information in respect to them.

Though abundant in Cuba this species does not appear to have been found in Jamaica, except as an imported bird from the former island, contrary to the assertions of various writers, as Temminck, Brisson, and others. Mr. Gosse was not able to trace its presence, though its existence among the precipitous woods on the north side of that island he regards as quite possible.

Like Oreopeleia martinica and Zenaida amabilis, this species, though described by Audubon as not being rare on the keys of South Florida, has not been met with in that State by later explorers.

An egg of this species laid in confinement in the aviary of Dr. Bachman, in Charleston, S. C., is of a rounded-oval shape, and of a uniform creamy-white color; it measures 1.43 inches in length by 1.10 in breadth.

FAMILY CRACIDÆ.—THE CURASSOWS.

CHAR. Body large, but rather slender; bill more or less arched; tail lengthened; legs long, robust, without any spur. Toes moderate, slender, the hinder scarcely elevated. Naked spaces frequently occurring on the head and throat.

Messrs. Sclater and Salvin, in their masterly and model monograph of Cracidæ (Pr. Zoöl. Soc. 1870, 504), define the subfamilies as follows:—

=A.= Post-acetabular area narrow; upper mandible higher than broad; culmen compressed …

I. Cracinæ.

=B.= Post-acetabular area broad; upper mandible broader than high; culmen depressed.

Top of head covered with feathers; space between the nostrils naked; nostrils exposed …

II. Penelopinæ.

Top of head with a bony tubercle; internasal space densely feathered; nostrils concealed …

III. Oreophasinæ.

By the term “post-acetabular area” is understood that portion of the dorsal aspect of the pelvis which is bounded in front by a line drawn through the acetabula.

The Cracinæ, or Curassows, are found in Mexico, in Central and in South America; the Oreophasinæ are represented by a single species, Oreophasis derbianus, a bird nearly as large as a Turkey, occurring in the wooded region of the Volcan de Fuego, Guatemala, at an altitude of 10,000 feet. Of the Penelopinæ one species only is found in the United States.

SUBFAMILY PENELOPINÆ.

This is the most extensive section of Cracidæ, embracing, according to Sclater and Salvin, no less than thirty-nine species. The genera indicated are as follows:—

=A.= A central fold of skin on the throat.

Outer quills narrow, but entire.

Throat feathered …

1. =Stegnolæma.=