Plate CLXXII. Male and Female.
Upper parts rich chocolate, slightly tinged with olive; lower parts
brownish-red, anteriorly tinged with purplish-red, lighter on the
middle of the breast, the sides and lower tail-coverts approaching to
the colour of the back; upper part of head bright blue, encircled by a
band of deep black, broader on the occiput, and very narrow in front;
a band of white, under the eye, meeting its fellow on the chin; a
broad patch of black on the fore neck, margined with white beneath,
and on the sides having a patch of light blue.
_Male_, 12-1/4, 17-1/2.
Accidental on the southernmost Florida Keys in summer only.
Columba cyanocephala, Linn. Syst. Nat. v. i. p. 282.
Blue-headed Pigeon, Columba cyanocephala, Aud. Orn. Biog. v.
ii. p. 411; v. v. p. 557.
GENUS III. ECTOPISTES, Swains. LONG-TAILED-DOVE.
Bill straight, of ordinary length, rather slender, broader than high
at the base, with a tumid fleshy covering, compressed toward the end.
Head small, oblong; neck of moderate length; body rather slender. Feet
short; tarsus as short as the hind toe and claw, anteriorly
scutellate; outer toe slightly shorter than inner; claws rather short,
stout, arched, obtuse. Plumage compact above; blended, but firm
beneath. Wings long; first and second quills longest, and about equal.
Tail long, cuneate, pointed. Digestive organs as in the preceding
genus.
288. 1. Ectopistes migratoria, Linn. Wandering
Long-tailed-Dove.--Passenger Pigeon.
Plate LXII. Male and Female.
Twelve tail-feathers. Male with the upper part and sides of the head
light blue; throat, fore neck, and breast, light brownish-red, sides
and lower wing-coverts light blue, abdomen and lower tail-coverts
white; upper parts greyish-blue; lower part of neck behind and along
the sides changing to gold, emerald-green, and rich crimson; some of
the wing-coverts with a black spot; quills and larger coverts
blackish-brown; primaries edged with blue at the base, with
reddish-white toward the end; middle tail-feathers bluish-black, the
rest pale blue at the base, with a patch of red and a band of black on
the inner web, white in the rest of their extent. Female with the
tints much duller, the upper parts inclining to yellowish-brown, the
dark spots on the wings more numerous, the lower parts pale greyish,
anteriorly tinged with yellowish-brown. In a female examined, the
anterior part of the tarsus has two rows of scales, while in a male
that part is broadly scutellate.
_Male_, 16-1/4, 25. _Female_, 15, 23.
Wanders continually in search of food throughout all parts of North
America. Wonderfully abundant at times in particular districts.
Columba migratoria, Linn. Syst. Nat. v. i. p. 285.
Passenger Pigeon, Columba migratoria, Wils. Amer. Orn. v. i.
p. 102.
Columba migratoria, Bonap. Syn. p. 120.
Columba (Ectopistes) migratoria, Swains. & Rich. F. Bor. Amer.
v. ii. p. 363.
Passenger Pigeon, Nutt. Man. v. i. p. 629.
Passenger Pigeon, Columba migratoria, Aud. Orn. Biog. v. i. p.
319; v. v. p. 561.