Plate CLXXXII. Male, Female, and Young.
Wings of moderate length, with the third quill longest, the first
having the outer web narrow at the base, the next four with a
contraction toward the end; tail rounded. Male with the forehead,
sides of the head, anterior and lateral parts of the neck, breast, and
sides, light purplish-red, the central part of the neck-feathers
dusky; hind head and neck pale blue, the feathers edged with dark
grey; back brownish-grey; primaries and their coverts deep
chestnut-red, margined externally, and tipped with dusky; secondary
quills and their coverts pale grey, tinged with red; smaller inner
secondaries, with their coverts and some of the smaller coverts, with
oblong glossy blue spots; lower wing-coverts deep chestnut-red;
tail-feathers, except the middle two, blue at the base, bluish-black
toward the end. Female paler; the forehead and wing-coverts but
slightly tinged with red, the hind neck less blue, and the spots on
the wings of smaller extent, and more purple. Young resemble the
female, with a tinge of yellow beneath.
_Male_, 6-3/4, 11. _Female_, 6-1/4.
Throughout the Floridas and their Keys, as well as from Louisiana to
North Carolina, including Alabama and Georgia. Pretty abundant.
Resident.
Columba passerina, Linn. Syst. Nat. v. i. p. 285.
Ground Dove, Columba passerina, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. iv. p. 15.
Columba passerina, Bonap. Syn. p. 120.
Ground Dove, Columba passerina, Aud. Amer. Ornith. v. ii. p.
471; v. v. p. 558.
GENUS II. STARNÆNAS, Bonap. GROUND-DOVE.
Bill of moderate length, slender, compressed toward the end; upper
mandible with a tumid fleshy covering at the base, the tip convex,
declinate, obtuse. Nostrils oblique, linear. Head small, compressed;
neck of moderate length; body full, robust. Legs stout; tarsus longer
than the hind toe, covered anteriorly and laterally with subhexagonal
scales; toes of moderate length. Claws rather small, arched,
compressed, obtuse. Plumage compact. Wings short, rounded; third,
fourth, and fifth quills longest, and almost equal; second, third,
fourth, fifth, and sixth, cut out on the outer web. Tail of moderate
length, slightly rounded, of twelve broad, rounded feathers. Tongue
and digestive organs as in the preceding genus.